content, design, technology for Get Hired (Tech & Healthcare) Meet-up June 10, 2019 by William (Bill) Siebold

1. Professional
Portfolios:
some stuff about
content | design | technology
by William (Bill) Siebold
for
Get Hired (Tech & Healthcare) Meet-Up
June 10, 2019

2. Questions to start us off:
● How many are using social media to let the world
know that you are professionally a free agent?
● How many have a personal web site they use
specifically to represent themselves professionally?
● What do you want from this presentation?

3. 06/10/19
3
Let’s Get Started
Professional Portfolios
Do you need an online technical portfolio?

4. 06/10/19
4
maybe Professional Portfolios
● Design: yes without doubt (especially game design)
Could also be a benefit in these cases:
● Data Science: try kaggle & start a repository on git
● Web Development: start a repository on git
● Any Professional could find value
https://www.kaggle.com/ https://github.com/

5. 06/10/19
5
who? Professional Portfolios
● architecture
● interior design
● multimedia
● web
● engineers
● teachers
● more …

6. 06/10/19
6
possible benefits
Professional Portfolios
● Show projects & process
● Case studies
● Reference or link to git / kaggle or social media
● Testimonials & recommendations
● Showcase part (or all) of your resume
● Downloadable version of your resume
● In general, more detail & information
● Philosophy / Mission Statement

7. 06/10/19
7
complement = value
Professional Portfolios
How can an online technical portfolio can fit into
your professional branding materials?

8. 06/10/19
8
complement = value
Professional Portfolios
As a complement to Resume / CV / Cover / Profile
a complement brings added value …

9. 06/10/19
9
getting started
Professional Portfolios
How do I start?
Let’s break this into three parts:
● Thinking about content and purpose
● Some design considerations
● Nuts & bolts of technology to create / deploy

10. 06/10/19
10
getting started
Professional Portfolios
But first:
Be sure to get a URL of your choosing
Your name is a good option for your portfolio
● (http://williamsiebold.com) for example
● annual purchase usually $10 - $15 per year
● lots of options to purchase (Bluehost, Godaddy ...)

11. 06/10/19
11
content Professional Portfolios
● CV / resume / professional & personal history
● professional affiliations
● credentials with dates
● letters of reference
● evidence of specific skills
● work examples / case studies
Collect in advance, assemble as preparation:

12. 06/10/19
12
content Professional Portfolios
● use text sparingly (a few words concisely)
● write well (grammar, spelling … all that stuff)
● organize content
● use headings to organize content
● provide downloadable assets (pdf of resume, case
studies, letters of recommendation, etc)
● visuals must be relevant and contribute to message
● Provide a convenient contact form
Things to do:

13. 06/10/19
13
content Professional Portfolios
● long rambling prose about childhood trauma
● explain what a creep your ex was (is)
● lament what is wrong with hiring managers … ?
● over design because it seems cool and you saw it on
another site …
● crowded, difficult to follow structure is a killer
● expect anything from anyone online
Things NOT to do:

14. 06/10/19
14
content
Professional Portfolios
Remember:
intent is to represent yourself professionally
so
have a purpose for the portfolio site and stick to it

15. 06/10/19
15
content
Professional Portfolios
Q: Should I have a blog?
A: Do you want to maintain a blog?
Do not have a blog if you cannot keep it up to date
(or if you write like crap)

16. 06/10/19
16
design Professional Portfolios
● use clean, easy to read font (sans-serif for prose)
● Simple and appropriate color palette (2 or 3 colors)
● Restrict yourself to 2 or 3 font types (heading / body)
● Be consistent in use of headings / fonts / color
● Visuals are good to have but must be relevant
● Use whitespace to create structure
● **** Clean, understandable navigation *****
Things to do:

17. 06/10/19
17
design Professional Portfolios
**** Clean, understandable navigation *****
(This is where most sites fall apart)
● menu items that make sense
● not too many menu items
● links that work (test them!!!)
Essential:

18. 06/10/19
18
technology Professional Portfolios
● “template” based sites (often subscriptions)
(easy but low to moderate control)
➢ Wix
➢ Squarespace
➢ Many others …
● Wordpress (more complex but high control)
Explore Options:

19. 06/10/19
19
technology
Professional Portfolios
● Easy to use out of the box
● Relatively inexpensive (but see following)
● Often “in-app” purchases for desirable features
● Customized URL (your name, for example)
probably costs more but check this …
● Might be the answer, but do your homework …
Template Subscriptions

20. 06/10/19
20
technology Professional Portfolios
Two types:
wordpress.com
wordpress.org **
You would want to use wordpress.org
(wordpress.com is blog-focused with limited flexibility)
Wordpress sites

21. 06/10/19
21
technology Professional Portfolios
● More complex, more components to engage
● Learning curve can be a bit steep for some
● Complex, but ultimate in flexibility (with some
tech chops)
● Appropriate for beginners if time & effort is
invested
● Lots of help available
● Might be the answer, but do your homework …
wordpress.org sites

22. 06/10/19
22
technology Professional Portfolios
● Requires purchase of host subscription (Bluehost,
for example)
● Requires purchase of URL (you should do this
anyway)
● Requires some expertise with FTP, host control
panel to install / load sites
● Basic web skills very, very helpful (HTML, CSS at
least; PHP, JS, jQuery for advanced)
wordpress.org sites

23. 06/10/19
23
Thank You Professional Portfolios
Questions?
Please note that this presentation is distilled from a
course I taught that extended 44 hours over 10 weeks.
I am sure I left a few things out. If you think of
something to ask me later please contact me:
Use the convenient contact form at williamsiebold.com
or DM me on LinkedIn or contact@williamsiebold.com