Building a Developer Portfolio That Gets Clients

Your Portfolio Is Your Salesperson

Your portfolio works while you sleep. It's often the deciding factor between getting contacted and getting ignored. A strong portfolio demonstrates competence and builds trust before you ever speak with a prospect.

What to Include

Case Studies Over Screenshots

Screenshots show what you built. Case studies show how you think:

• The client's problem and goals
• Your approach and decisions
• Challenges and how you solved them
• Results and business impact

Quantifiable Results

// Weak: "Built an e-commerce website"

// Strong: "Built a Shopify-integrated e-commerce platform that
//          increased the client's online revenue by 340% in 6 months"

Technical Depth

For developer portfolios, show code quality:

• Link to GitHub repositories
• Explain architectural decisions
• Show before/after improvements

Structure

1. Hero: Clear value proposition (who you help, how)
2. Featured projects: 3-5 best case studies
3. About: Your background and approach
4. Testimonials: Social proof
5. Contact: Easy way to reach you

Common Mistakes

• Too many projects (quality over quantity)
• No context (what, not why)
• Outdated work (remove old projects)
• Poor mobile experience
• No clear call to action

Conclusion

Your portfolio should tell the story of problems solved, not just features built. Focus on results, show your thinking process, and make it easy to contact you.