# Portfolio for programmers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 17, 2008, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portfolio-for-programmers/445674 "2008-04-17T01:11:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portfolio-for-programmers/445674/1 "2008-04-17T01:11:06Z")
I’m on the look for a new job. My search yielded [this](http://www.mycareernetwork.com/members/jobsearchdetails.asp?jobid=60242), which had an interesting request (you have to click on a link to get a popup description): > [@from job listing](#): > > Other Qualifications > Portfolio showcasing, coding examples, previous projects, diagrams, and documentation required When I was job hunting three years ago, I had a similar request for examples of my programing. I understand that artists, writers, advertising people have portfolios, people who would be termed “creative”. And the other thing is that the programs I write aren’t mine. Isn’t there some kind of copyright on source code? And getting the code for VB program I thought seemed kind of odd, as there is the issue of the from layout. I had an interview long ago where I had to write some C code on a white board as a test of sorts. Just simple things, of course. Anyone else seen this? Yourself? What did you do? ---
**Author:** ![tirial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@tirial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tirial)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portfolio-for-programmers/445674/2 "2008-04-17T06:57:47Z")
You need to be careful about projects you worked for for other companies, since those are normally their intellectual property. It might be worth doing a short project just for your portfolio e.g. I did a solitaire game, documented it, and put the breakdown up, along with a few things like the known bug list. Its been a few years, but I set up a website with some examples of programmes I’d written (short games, interactive demos and the like), put my copyright all over the sourcecode and either hid the source code as best I could, or only put downloadable executables up. Then I added a links page to various online systems I’d written for other companies, with my role and what I did but no detailed technical description. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portfolio-for-programmers/445674/3 "2008-04-17T16:12:03Z")
I write a paragraph explaining how little I suspect _their_ company would appreciate me forwarding a copy of _their_ system (data included) to some _other_ company at some distant future date as “an example of my work”. Then I state that I have laptop and will show (but not leave behind) some solutions I’ve built for which I have permission for the data within them to be viewed (but generally not left behind for someone to poke through). ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portfolio-for-programmers/445674/4 "2008-04-17T17:33:39Z")
I third that this request is nonsense. First of all I wouldn’t want to work for a company that was either so unethical or so brain dead as to ask for it. (Unless the request was put together by a clueless HR person - maybe former art student?) Besides that, real programmers work collaboratively, so documentation and charts might well be the result of a team effort. I have seen people ask for examples of code on whiteboards, but I can tell if someone knows how to program by asking about their experience. That might be able to weed out liars, but it hardly indicates good programming ability.