Documenting Engineering Projects For Your Portfolio

Career advice I’d give my younger self: Keep a record of your wins Document your accomplishments as you go - not just what you did, but the real impact. (Keep this in a personal repository, not at work.) Most of us move from project to project, thinking we’ll remember the details when we need them. Then, when it’s time for a job search or a performance review, we struggle to articulate our impact. Instead, whenever you start a new project, ask yourself: “How will my future self talk about this?” Think in terms of a story - a problem worth solving, a difficult and challenging solution, and a meaningful transformation. You don’t have to wait until the project is finished to start writing it. Step 1: The problem What problem are you solving? A (business) problem worth solving has the problem itself, which lead to symptoms that, if they aren't addressed, can lead to disaster. For example, you might be replacing a legacy workflow. The old workflow is slow and includes manual steps. This results in errors and customer dissatisfaction, which leads to financial risk (due to errors) and churn, resulting in stagnant revenue and declining market share. You'll get more insight over time, but just start at the start. Write down what you know. Step 2: Document the outcomes you (or your leadership) are expecting or hoping for You may not know the final impact yet, but you have a hypothesis. What will change if your project succeeds? More revenue? Higher efficiency? Customer satisfaction improvements? Write that down. The transformation is often the opposite of the problem: if revenue is stagnant, the goal is growth. If churn is rising, the goal is retention. Define the ideal outcome early. Step 3: Capture the key components of the solution As technologists, we naturally document what we built. That’s fine, but remember—hiring managers and execs care less about features and more about impact. And how you collaborated and persuaded stakeholders to create and keep alignment. Step 4: Update your story as you go As your project progresses, go back and update: ✔ What you learned about the real problem ✔ Changes in your approach ✔ The actual results once customers started using your solution Often, the results blossom in unexpected ways - leading to social proof like customer stories, awards, or internal recognition. Capture those. These stories become the basis of a resume that gets interviews and they're great for performance reviews.

As engineers we are really good at being technical... 👇🏼 Dependency injection, TDD, Clean Code, Reverse Proxies… we are all in. But there’s something simpler but harder we struggle with... And it’s makes you standout when interviewing, and looking to grow as an engineering leader (senior and beyond roles). Taking on challenging, high-impact projects. AND. Quantifying those project wins to business outcomes and wins. 🧠 We are technical superstars, so what often happens internally in conversations, or when interviewing is we go deeeep into the technicalities. “I rebuilt our build system from webpack 1.x to webpack 4.0 and removed the x/y/z security vulnerability, and speed up load times significantly.” Sounds impressive… But for product, business, and hiring leaders, it’s hard to really understand how valuable and impactful that was. What if instead for the same project, you were able to say: “I identified that our build system had several security vulnerabilities. I also discovered it cost our engineers 125 hrs / month waiting for builds to complete. I spearheaded an effort to upgrade this system, and led the team to fix our security issues, and decrease build times by 78%. Combined these measures saved our business approx $150,000 / yr.” Ok now you have their interest… they can’t wait to dive in more and ask follow up questions and learn more about the project. 🔥 But how can you get stories like that? Brag docs. – Keep a daily log of project updates + learnings. – Summarize these into meaningful impact every 2 weeks. – Summarize those wins again every 2-3 months into top wins/learnings. – Quantify them. Talk with engineering, business and product leaders to get the bigger picture and some impact numbers. – Use these wins/learnings in resumes, performance reviews, interviews, etc. Taking on challenging projects is key to your success. Don’t stop there. Quantify and document those wins. ✔️ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you liked this post, you’ll probably love my weekly newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e95JH9qH

I still have this stack of papers with every decision, every iteration, every failed experiment from my 7 years on World of Warcraft. Most designers document too late. I built the pet battle system in World of Warcraft. First, I had a text version that just said "pet battle one does attack A, then does damage, then it does XYZ" Then we rendered that step by step.   When you wait to document: • You get busier as the project progresses • Documentation gets pushed down the priority list • You forget critical decisions and "why" behind them • Eventually, it never happens at all Most designers think they'll stop, make something perfect, and then show it. Studios want to see your thinking process. They want to understand HOW you solve problems, not just the final solution. Here's what you should do instead: 1/ Take a quick screenshot of your work every day 2/ Archive notes, drawings, sketches, even failures 3/ This also helps you reflect and clarify your process 4/ At portfolio time, choose 3 process journeys to show start to finish Would I even remember half these meetings without documentation? Probably not. But I remember sitting in that conference room, looking at those blue chairs, working through problems step by step. Capture evidence while you're developing long before you start the portfolio. Don't assume you'll do it later. Your future self and future studio will thank you later.

Document your projects! It’s not just about writing code; it’s about presenting it in a way that feels professional and usable. One major way to set your projects apart is by properly documenting them. A good README isn’t just an afterthought. It’s a signal to employers that you know how to create a complete, professional product. Your documentation should include clear setup instructions, a concise explanation of what the project does, and any additional features or tools used. Think about it from the perspective of another developer or an employer trying to run your code for the first time. If they can’t figure it out, it doesn’t matter how good the code is. Make it easy for others to understand your work. Document your API if you’re working on backend projects, include user instructions, and outline the purpose and goals of your project. Good documentation shows attention to detail, an understanding of user needs, and a commitment to making your work accessible and professional. It’s one of those small things that can make a big difference in how your projects are perceived.