Hey there,
When I built ResumeRadar, I didn’t expect the first message I’d get from a user to say: “Your tool scored my CV at 6/10. I panicked. Then I uploaded screenshots of my GitHub projects, and suddenly I realised that nobody needs my CV, they need to see what I’ve built.”
And here’s what struck me: he didn’t get the job because of his CV words. He got it because a hiring manager clicked on his GitHub, saw a clean repository with actual cloud infrastructure code, and thought: “This person knows how to ship.”
Your CV is a permission slip. Your portfolio is proof.
The job market has shifted. It’s not just in tech — it’s everywhere.
Hiring managers are drowning in applications. LinkedIn profiles. Cover letters. It’s all noise. But a portfolio is signal. It says: “Here’s something I built that actually works. Here’s how I approached problems. Here’s evidence I can execute.”
And here’s the thing: you don’t need to build something brilliant. You just need to build something visible.
I’ve seen people land roles with a static website on S3, a serverless API that processes CSV files, a GitHub workflow that automates something tedious in their current job, a scraped dataset with analysis published on Medium, or a Discord bot that does one useful thing really well.
None of these are “impressive” projects. But they were finished projects. And finished beats perfect every time in hiring.
Here’s how to think about portfolio projects in 2026:
Pick something that solves a tiny problem you actually face
The best portfolios aren’t passion projects. They’re scratch-an-itch projects. What annoyed you last week? Did you spend 30 minutes manually updating something? Did you write a clunky manual process that should be automated? That’s your project.
I’ve mentored people who built a tool to scrape job listings and flag roles matching specific keywords (got a job search analyst role), a Lambda function that sends Slack reminders for certificate renewal dates (Solutions Architect hire), and a static site comparing AWS vs Azure pricing (AWS marketing role).
Ship it publicly
This is the part people skip. Upload it to GitHub. Write a short README. Post about it on LinkedIn: “Just shipped X. Learned Y. Here’s the link if you want to check it out.” Done. That’s 90% of the visibility battle. You’re not trying to go viral. You’re trying to be findable.
Keep it running and documented
The portfolio that gets traction isn’t the one that’s abandoned after launch. Update your README. Fix bugs that people report. Add a “lessons learned” section. Keep a changelog. This signals: “I maintain what I ship.”
Hit reply and tell me: what’s one thing in your current job that would be perfect as a portfolio project? Small, specific, solvable in a weekend. Tell me what it is and I’ll help you think through the approach.
Want the full step-by-step framework? I made a free PDF: “Roadmap to Your First Tech Job” — covering everything from choosing your path to building your portfolio to landing the offer. It maps the exact 4-phase framework I use with mentees: Domain, Cert, Projects, Brand.
Get the free roadmap: sholastechnotes.com/roadmap-first-tech-job
Build in public,
Olushola
P.S. Need help figuring out which project to build or how to structure it for maximum visibility? I mentor people through this exact process. mentorship.sholastechnotes.com
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