I've Reviewed 200+ Developer Portfolios. 90% Make the Same 4 Mistakes.

I've been doing informal portfolio reviews for junior and mid-level developers for the past two years. Usually it's someone from a Slack community or Reddit asking for feedback before applying somewhere. After reviewing 200+, the patterns are relentless. The same four mistakes show up over and over. And the frustrating thing is that none of them are hard to fix. Mistake #1: Leading with Technology, Not Outcomes What I see: "Built a full-stack e-commerce app using React, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Redis, and Docker. Implemented JWT authentication, role-based access control, and real-time inventory updates." What a hiring manager reads: "Used a bunch of technologies to build... something." The most common mistake is writing project descriptions for engineers, not for the people evaluating you. You've correctly listed every technology you touched. You haven't told me what the project actually does, who it's for, or whether it worked. What to do instead: Lead with the outcome, then explain how y