Portfolio Fluff Cutter
PROEvaluate developer portfolio projects to identify which ones make I appear junior or inexperienced. Cut weak projects that damage first impressions with hiring managers.
Example Usage
I have 6 projects in my portfolio:
- A to-do list app with localStorage
- A weather app fetching from OpenWeather API
- My portfolio site itself
- A React clone of Netflix UI (no real data)
- An e-commerce site with Stripe integration
- A personal blog with CMS
I learned most of these from YouTube tutorials. I want to apply for junior front-end roles with 1.5 years of experience. Which projects should I remove or significantly improve before sending to companies?
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Suggested Customization
| Description | Default | Your Value |
|---|---|---|
| The role level and type I'm targeting | Junior Frontend Developer | |
| Years of development experience | 2 | |
| List of current portfolio projects to evaluate | ||
| My primary technologies | React, JavaScript, Node.js | |
| Minimum score (1-10) for keeping a project | 5 |
What This Skill Does
The Portfolio Fluff Cutter evaluates developer portfolio projects to identify which ones make you appear junior, inexperienced, or unprepared. It applies a rigorous 7-criteria scoring system that mirrors how hiring managers actually evaluate portfolios, then provides clear KEEP/IMPROVE/REMOVE verdicts for each project.
Most portfolio guides tell you what to build. This skill tells you what to cut—because your portfolio is judged by its weakest entry, not its strongest.
Who This Is For
- Early-career developers (1-3 years) wanting to strengthen portfolios
- Career changers with mixed-quality projects from learning phase
- Self-taught developers with many tutorial-based projects
- Bootcamp graduates with similar capstone projects as peers
- Anyone with older portfolio work that no longer reflects current skills
- Professionals preparing for job transitions who need honest feedback
How It Works
The skill evaluates each project across seven weighted criteria:
- Authenticity (25%) - Is this original or a tutorial clone?
- Code Quality (20%) - Tests, documentation, organization
- Problem-Solving (20%) - Does it solve real problems?
- Polish (15%) - Responsive, accessible, attention to detail
- Deployment (10%) - Is it live and working?
- Documentation (5%) - README quality and completeness
- Career-Alignment (5%) - Matches your target experience level
Each project receives a weighted overall score and a verdict: KEEP, IMPROVE, or REMOVE.
Research Sources
This skill was built using research from these authoritative sources:
- What are some cliche portfolio projects to avoid? Community discussion identifying to-do lists and weather apps as overused junior projects
- What portfolio projects are TOO junior? Analysis of what makes projects feel basic vs impressive for junior developers
- If you're struggling to find work, it's because of your portfolio How hiring managers judge portfolios by the weakest project included
- Should I put tutorials or course projects on my portfolio? Expert advice on when course projects help vs hurt my prospects
- Always write a clear README if you want to find a coding job Why README quality separates top 1% candidates from the rest
- Tutorial projects on Portfolio Community best practices for tutorial-based learning without showing them
- FCC as a portfolio guide? FreeCodeCamp projects and whether they're portfolio-worthy
- What to do with old projects when working on a portfolio? Strategies for managing and presenting older work
- Do you delete your old projects when actively looking for work? Real perspectives on portfolio curation and removal strategies
- Having a quality GitHub Profile and Personal portfolio Comprehensive checklist for professional portfolio standards