Java Work Portfolio - what to include?

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I am self-taught c, c++, fortran, html and css. I have decided to become fluent in Java and pursue a professional career. I have a book "Java Beginners Guide by Herbert Schildt" and it seems the book is working on 2 or 3 programs that, by the end, will have all of the concepts incorporated and will be decently functional programs.

I want to take this approach to my learning and being working on my own programs I can put in my portfolio afterwards. The programs, conceptually, should be able to incorporate all of the general concepts of Java, with an emphasis on library functions and polymorphism/inheritance, and it would be nice if I could actually use them in the mean time. I would like my programs to lend themselves towards these concepts being incorporated:
1. bitwise operations
2. polymorphism
3. read/write
4. exception handling

I've done a fair amount of searching and I've found information on building portfolios, but nothing specifically about starting a portfolio and doing it entirely independently

Thanks for any help!

The short answer? everything
The slightly longer answer: everything you think your (potential) employer/client would want to see.


Basically, if you ask yourself "should i include this?", 9/10 times, the answer is "yes"

Thanks. That's kind of the way I see it, however with my Aspie brain I find myself constantly thinking of cool ways of doing things and my program ends up looking more hacked and unreadable, though possibly quite well optimized. It's difficult because I get so absorbed in my own programs that I learn to visualize it in ways I doubt I would be able to help other people see it in and it becomes overly complex and abstract while to me seeming self-explanatory. I need to read a lot more reputable source code maybe to get a feel for style and flow expactations?

Anyone have these programming issues? haha its quite fun and I may actually have a future in creating highly optimized code that doesn't need to be readable (think smallest chess program) but I may have to teach myself to simplify the code a bit as I know first hand how difficult it can be to follow other people's weird logic in programming, especially object oriented

Thanks again Izzeme!

The qualities of a good software system are: Simple, Flexible, Robust and Reliable.

Showing off with obscure methods does not improve your code. Keep it simple. Java and C/C++ are great for building systems.

I'm getting into a similar situation. I decided to go back to college in a Software Developer program. In my case, I'm studying HTM & CSS, Database Design, and C#. It's tempting to try and go beyond the usual stuff because you want to set yourself apart and demonstrate a higher level of skill.

I'm thinking of other ways I can build my own proficiency and I'm thinking of just dabbling in a Game Engine. In my case, since I'm learning C#, I'm interested in applying what I've learned in Unity 3D instead of just making boring Form applications.

When I get good enough, I may also try contributing to an Open Source project.

Thanks for the advice. I always start out with a solid concept and end up overcomplicating it as I work on it more. I probably need initially come up with more future proof designs and then just stick to it, if I think of a potentially better way to fundamentally structure it, I will just possibly use that for my next project.

It's very tempting lol. I think though having 20+ solid programs that serve functions well and legibly would be much preferable to a few large overcomplicated hobby projects. That's my recent conclusion at least. I originally was going the same route as you by becoming fluent in unreal engine (since c++ is my strongest lang) and started designing a game. The problem however was it become too much of a hobby project for me and while it helped motivate me to learn and dig into the actual details of what I was doing, I also would end up getting caught up in time wasters like spending 2 days on a "item find" compass function that is under 20 lines, or a "random map initializer", etc. That may just be me, though. I tend to get distracted and convince myself it's a necessary distraction.

Do you have a portfolio in progress??

I'm still training up my skills, but plan to eventually make a portfolio.

For fun, I coded a Powerball Number generator using Arrays and my Drums of numbers to pick from. I think I should build on that thinking of ways to show I can make practical applications and especially juggle data.