

Ask HN: What makes a great freelance portfolio? - invictrvs

We&#x27;re building a new kind of portfolio site specifically for freelance developers. A place where top freelancers can share, showcase, and find high quality freelance gigs. Here&#x27;s a demo of what we&#x27;ve built. https:&#x2F;&#x2F;theworkmob.com&#x2F;demo&#x2F;
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dang
We've buried this thread for two reasons: the use of (to put it charitably)
misleading material [1], and the sockpuppets posting in this thread.

I hope it's obvious that such tactics are not ok here.

1\. [https://theworkmob.com/demo/#/projects/hackernews-
stability](https://theworkmob.com/demo/#/projects/hackernews-stability)

~~~
invictrvs
Felt it right to respond to the bury. The Hacker News Stability project on the
linked demo was not meant to mislead, only to be a sample and show planned
product features. No harm or false representation was intended.

Respectfully - Travis

~~~
wglb
Sorry, _The Hacker News Stability project on the linked demo was not meant to
mislead_

How could it not mislead? With a obviously fake quote from PG?

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tptacek
As someone hip-deep in professional services: consider whether the answer to
"freelancing sites are terrible for software developers" is "we need better
freelancer sites", or whether instead the answer is "freelancer matchmaking
sites are generally not in the best interests of freelancers".

In this rare instance I think I'll try speaking for Patrick McKenzie, a fellow
consultant, along with myself: we think the answer is the latter.

If you're aiming for the most lucrative work, the conversation you want to be
having with prospective clients has very little to do with anything you'd put
on a developer portfolio, and a lot more to do with (a) being able to speak
the language of business (ie: making a credible benefits-focused pitch and
understanding how "customer service" principles apply to our kind of work) and
(b) being able to tailor a case study or two to a client.

The latter might sound like something you could profitably host on a
freelancer site, but the kind of case study I'm talking about works more like
a resume cover letter than the resume itself.

~~~
patio11
Thomas wrote substantially what I wanted to write.

Edit to expand:

So some of the features of WorkMob were easy for you to write, but are not in
the best interests of many people who could potentially work for you. If your
design showcases to clients that "Number of OSS projects" or "Number of Github
followers" are how you rate developers, your clients might actually develop
the impression that those two numbers a) matter and b) matter quite a lot.

Instead of being inspired by freelance portfolios, which devote 95% of the
emphasis to What and 5% of the emphasis to Why, maybe you should look at case
studies by consulting firms who are good at what they do.

One I wrote which drove substantial additional business for me:
[http://blog.fogcreek.com/our-marketing-is-up-fog-creek-
and-w...](http://blog.fogcreek.com/our-marketing-is-up-fog-creek-and-what-we-
did-about-it/)

One which I was not involved with, but which I routinely recommend for people
when they ask "How do I write a case study?": [http://www.conversion-rate-
experts.com/seomoz-case-study/](http://www.conversion-rate-experts.com/seomoz-
case-study/)

You'll note that neither of these is particularly intensive from a features-
required-to-support-the-case-study perspective. All you need is a blogging
engine that lets you add images. For bonus points, email capture.

~~~
mttsn
Thanks for the detailed response Patrick,

I see your point. We're finding that we want to focus in on real validated
feedback from past clients and simple case studies of the work.

We're still thinking through the actual metrics that make sense to profile,
and I can definitely see that Github scores might not be very important.

I'd love to go deeper in how we can create a framework for case studies if
you're free to connect offline. matt@theworkmob.com

~~~
sjs382
I hope this conversation can continue _on_ line. There's a lot to be learned
from it.

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jmrobancho
As someone with little technical skills when it comes to software development,
I like that I can see a person's past work and read reviews from people he/she
has worked with in the past.

~~~
mttsn
What would you like to see specifically about a developers past work? Code? A
walkthrough of what was built? What would be most useful?

~~~
jmrobancho
A walk through of what was built would be helpful to better understand what
the project looked like (or how it functioned) before the developer came on
board and what the project looked like/functioned after.

Also, knowing how a developer works best would be useful. For example, does
the developer like to check in regularly or does he/she prefer a hands off
experience.

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jlehman
I'd say that a great freelance portfolio would be one that conveys the
freelancer's skills to a prospective client regardless of that clients' level
of technical understanding.

It would be great to have a portfolio that could showcase a variety of
different information (dynamically) catered to the person looking at that that
profile.

------
invictrvs
[https://theworkmob.com/demo](https://theworkmob.com/demo)

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hansy
What seems to be the problem with current portfolio sites?

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mttsn
(WorkMob Founder) We found that todays portfolio sites are great for freelance
designers but suck for freelance software development. When work isn't visual
most of todays options are not ideal. We also wanted a way to show real
validated feedback from our past clients instead of having to send out
referrals to every new potential client.

------
dynabros
are you competing with freelancer sites?

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e15ctr0n
Based on the HN discussion 3 days ago, it seems that freelancer sites are ripe
for disruption.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7857315](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7857315)

~~~
wglb
My opinion is that they are ripe for extinction.

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dip
We've found some awesome designers on dribble, I hope you guys can do the same
for freelance dev's!

~~~
thenomad
Good lord, a Dribble for Devs would be absolutely wonderful.

I hate hiring devs on oDesk / Elance / etc - alternatives would be marvellous.

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benkroop
Great use of Angular.

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oneloop
"Top freelancers". So begginer ones arent welcome?

~~~
mttsn
We're definitely built for more experienced freelancers over beginners, but
we're focused on talent over age or time : )

------
notastartup
Great looking design. However, instead of outsourcing my portfolio I just got
a domain and added my own stuff. check out
[http://appsonify.com](http://appsonify.com), curious to know some actionable
steps I can take to improve it. The whole thing is hosted on Amazon S3 bucket
and it cost me like 50 cents in traffic so far. No need to run a static http
server, just point your domain through route 53 and point it to amazon bucket.

~~~
tst
I can give you some feedback if you want. In the past I have searched
freelancers in the web, app and design space. For each position I maybe look
at ~200 freelancers. That means a freelancer is out on average in maybe 10 -
20 seconds.

What I like:

* You have a website

* Design is very easy and clean

* You show your references

* There's an e-mail address

What could be better:

* Your picture. If you don't want to show your face just leave it out. Otherwise take a nice picture and put it up without any effects / filters

* I don't know what you did on each of your projects. Normally, I assume that you either did the whole site or a minimal part.

Stuff that depends (if you mainly sell to technical or non-technical people):

* Your services part doesn't really describe technologies / frameworks. However, if I look for a freelancer I look for somebody knowing Django, Magento or whatever.

* Same goes for the projects

~~~
notastartup
those are great pointers, thanks a lot!

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jonnathanson
Full disclosure / shameless plug: I've worked with these guys for a few months
now, and they're a great team. They're freelance devs who built a site and
service for freelance devs. Their approach -- matching portfolios, profiles,
and feedback to available jobs -- is a good one.

There are a handful of similar services out there, and to be honest, I wish
all of them well. This approach has worked for design-freelancing sites, and
properly adapted and adjusted, it could work well for development projects. In
the long run, the big win here will be in recommendations and semi-automation
of matching portfolio signal with job characteristics. They're also doing
interesting work on making the job posting, scoping, and selection process
easier for nontechnical to mildly technical hirers.

