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🔍Why Your Dev Resume Isn’t Enough (and What to Do About It)

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Dev List
August 13, 2025

In partnership with

🚀 How Developers Can Land More Interviews by Building a “Proof of Work” Portfolio

Resumes tell, portfolios show. In today’s competitive job market, the fastest way to stand out is to prove your skills with real, visible work—projects, code, and contributions that speak for you before the interview even starts.

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1. Show, Don’t Tell—Even for Small Projects

You don’t need to have built the next billion-dollar SaaS to impress a hiring manager. A well-structured GitHub repo with clear documentation and clean code can be just as powerful.

  • Build small but relevant projects that demonstrate core skills: APIs, front-end UI, automation scripts.

  • Use README files to explain your thought process, architecture, and problem-solving approach.

Pro tip: Align your projects to the type of roles you want—backend-heavy for server-side jobs, data-focused for analytics roles, etc.

2. Leverage Open Source for Instant Credibility

Contributing to open source shows teamwork, real-world collaboration, and code quality under public scrutiny.

  • Pick active repositories related to your stack.

  • Start small: fix bugs, improve documentation, submit test cases.

  • Gradually move into feature contributions to build visibility.

Recruiters and hiring managers often search GitHub for contributors to relevant tech stacks—being there puts you ahead of applicants they can’t “see” in action.

3. Package Your Work for Easy Viewing

Your portfolio isn’t just the code—it’s how you present it.

  • Create a personal website with sections for featured projects, case studies, and blog posts.

  • Include screenshots, live demos, and links to repos.

  • Keep it skimmable—hiring managers spend seconds scanning, not minutes.

Bonus: Add a “Behind the Build” blog section where you walk through the problem, your solution, and the result. This doubles as a content marketing tool for your skills.

4. Join a Job Board That Puts You First

The earlier you see job postings, the higher your odds of getting noticed.
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đź“Ś Action Plan (Week 1)

  • Pick one portfolio project to start or update.

  • Push it to GitHub with a polished README.

  • Share it on LinkedIn and relevant dev communities (Reddit, Twitter, Slack groups).

  • Apply to 3 jobs where that project is relevant to the role.

  • Repeat weekly to stack your “proof of work” assets.

Let me know how your progress goes this week and send us an email! We’d love to hear from you 🙂 

Till Next Time!

— The Dev List Team