5 Useful Tips for Getting Ideas for Your Portfolio

Are you running out of ideas for your portfolio? Trying to stand out in a saturated industry can be troublesome. Luckily, there are ways that you can boost your chances of landing your dream job. Portfolios are modern CVs, so to make sure that you have the right projects in it, you have to come up with some unique ideas. Here are five useful tips on how you can do that.

1. Search for businesses and get ideas from there

The one thing you can always do is searching for some businesses and choosing one that you like. Depending on the level of your ambition, you can pick a blog, real estate website, marketing website or if you're more ambitious, you can even search for some modern design websites with lots of animations and interactivity. The choice is yours. However, if you're trying to start freelancing or landing your first job in a fancy digital agency, I'd advise you to create websites for businesses. They'll be able to see that you can get the job done.

2. Go on dribbble and get inspired

What I absolutely love about dribbble is that you can search for countless designs of websites, web applications and illustrations created by designers that are beyond talented.

- "But I'm not a designer, and I don't want to copy someone's work. How is this useful for me?"

It's useful because you can get ideas for your projects. It's not about copying someone's work, but getting an idea and then designing your version of an app or a website. Trust me, I got an ambitious plan of creating a project management application, and I got the idea right from dribbble. You wouldn't believe how many designs and ideas are waiting for you there ready to be created. I'll see you on the other side 😉.

3. Create a new portfolio

I'm not joking. Successful developers have reinvented their portfolios three to six times (I've seen it). Even myself, I'm trying to develop a newer version of my portfolio even though I've already designed one. Search for portfolio ideas and create one that truly stands out. Don't worry if it takes a lot of time. It's better to put in the time and the effort to create something that astonishes everyone who lands on it, than to build some shitty portfolio that would, at best, surprise your 10-year-old brother. Be patient with your efforts, and I'm sure you'll get to the place where you want to be.

4. Know WordPress? Show it!

If you know WordPress, then you should check some themes on the market and see how you can create your own. Not only countless digital agencies look for WordPress skills, but also by creating such a theme, you'll be able to potentially sell it on the market and make some extra dime. Search WordPress theme marketplace in Google and get inspiration!

5. Collaborate with someone

Whether you connect with someone on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook, you can find your code buddy and create something together. Not only you'll be able to come up with more ideas, but also you'll be able to create more complex and time-consuming projects that you wouldn't normally do on your own.

Finally, I'm giving you five great ideas for the project with some hope that at least two of them will be of interest to you:

• A website with some login authentication (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)

• A blog design (HTML, CSS)

• A website for a local business in your area (HTML, CSS)

• A more complex, multi-page website with toggle navigation created in JS and some more complex animations created in GSAP (See my other article about GSAP) (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)

• Web application design. Or if you know Node.js then you could build an entire application on your own (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Node.js)

All the rest is in your hands. I hope this article was of some use to you and that you won't waste more time thinking about what you should build. Instead, even now, you can start creating more extraordinary projects that you'll be able to show off to your employers/clients. Good luck 😈.