NextWork on YouTube · Open on YouTube
Portfolio piece · Competent · Lesson 44 of 98 · 10 min video, then about 3 hours of practice
The README, and defending your decisions out loud
After this you can present your project in writing and in conversation, explaining the trade-offs you made and what you would change.
Why it matters
Hiring managers spend about two minutes on a repository. The README decides whether they spend more: what it is, a screenshot, a live link, how to run it, and a section on decisions and trade-offs. Then practise talking about it. Record yourself explaining the architecture in five minutes, then answer: why this database, what happens if two users edit the same thing, what breaks first with a hundred times the users, what would you do differently. If any answer is 'I don't know', go and find out. Trap: listing technologies instead of explaining decisions. 'Uses Postgres' says nothing; 'Postgres because the data is relational and I needed transactions for X' says a lot.
How to use this resource
How to document a project so it works as portfolio evidence.