Is having a software development portfolio a good idea in the early stage?

Hello all

Suppose I have limited "corporate" experience doing Java or .NET or whatever programing/technology, is it good idea to have a software portfolio showing what I have done in the past (academically or spare time)?

By having such portfolio during interview, will this help me get the job? Even for cases where say the company uses Struts but none of my projects used Struts.

Or will this gives the interviewer an impression that I am those type of people who "implement stuff" rather than leading/managing? Furthermore, using Java as example depending on what tools/frameworks/servers I used in my projects, will this make the interviewer think I am biased in such and such tools (excellent eg is app server say I use Glassfish all the time, but company uses JBoss, will this make the interviewer think I don't know how to use JBoss)?

Thanks in advance for your inputs

As the vast majority of people come to an interview with no code, anything you can bring is a good thing. It's ok if the technologies aren't exact matches (Glassfish vs JBoss.) If you used JBoss on a corporate project, that will get covered at the interview. If not, you don't have experience with JBoss whether you have a portfolio or not. Which is fine; you'll learn it on the job.

I don't understand the concern about coming across as a coder rather than a leader/manager. If you are early in your career, aren't you a coder? People later in their careers can be coders or managers or .... But early on, almost everyone is a coder.

Thanks Jeanne

Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:I don't understand the concern about coming across as a coder rather than a leader/manager. If you are early in your career, aren't you a coder? People later in their careers can be coders or managers or .... But early on, almost everyone is a coder.

Yes everyone starts off as coder. But me personally have few years of experience just not in Java. Starting off like a fresh grad seems odd.