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General Discussion

Posted by Tim Slatt
Tim Slatt
2,924 Points

How do I get good practice and build a portfolio when I'm not sure what to build...

I've been tearing through the Front End Developer track for 3 weeks now, and things are progressing nicely for me (learning a lot, seem to be absorbing what I've learned, etc). My issue comes when I want to apply what I've learned. I know I need to put together a portfolio of things I've worked on, but aside from a website for my services (which I'm working on now), I can't think of anything else to do. I've been asking around to friends/relatives to see if anyone needs a website built (I offered to do it for free), and no takers. So I basically have writer's block for web designers, if that's even a thing.

Anyone else dealing with anything similar? Any tips on how to overcome?

4 Answers

Jacob Mishkin
Jacob Mishkin
23,118 Points
Jacob Mishkin
Jacob Mishkin
23,118 Points

if you need inspiration I would suggest going to codepen.io there is you see what other people are doing and maybe find a similar project to do. People are doing amazing things on that website.

Jonathan Grieve
MOD
Jonathan Grieve
Treehouse Moderator 91,254 Points
Jonathan Grieve
Jonathan Grieve
Treehouse Moderator 91,254 Points

Have you worked through the examples taught in your Treehouse course. You could either work on these or use them as a base to come up with your own idea.

For example Guil's Lake Tahoe site for CSS in his courses he encourages you to make your own example with the Techniques he teaches. Use that as a springboard for your portfolio. :-)

Happy .
Happy .
11,414 Points
Happy .
Happy .
11,414 Points

Pretty much echoing others, but I have the same issue. I think the best thing is to find 'bad' examples (e.g local business websites from the 90's) and re-make them in your own, up to date way, ironing out the issues and improving efficiency. You can then take that solution, show them it and sell it to them if them want it. BOOM! a portfolio piece even if they don't want it, you can still use it.

Tim Slatt
Tim Slatt
2,924 Points
Tim Slatt
Tim Slatt
2,924 Points

Thanks for the input! I love the idea of remaking bad 90's websites.