does the interviewer (technical interviewer) or dev responsible for hiring review your projects code

I am refactoring an old project it's an ecommerce project i didn't have the option to view the product in a seprate page so i wanted to add that option , I have my products stored in an Array in firebase now that i understand firebase more i learned that i can't use it's querying capabilities to filter my results instead of having to loop over the whole Array to get the item i want it's a total of 226 items i know that if i add more products it will effect performance later there is two choices either i restructure my database again which will be a pain the ass for me or i can just work with the current structure the question is given that option 1 this is not the best approach i am worried that if an employer or developer sees that implementation that would discourage them from hiring me plus does the developer who hires you even bother to look at your code
12 Replies
Luke
Luke2mo ago
Hey @johnny the fifth, classic fear- other developers reading our outdated code... haunts my nightmares to this day. In all sincerity, I don't know how much of a cardinal sin you've made in writing that code but I guess it depends on a few things 1) How bad is the mistake? 2) How likely is anyone to EVER see this? Ex. is this going to the top of your projects or will it sit at the bottom of your github repos forever?
If no one will ever see it, it might even be worth just archiving the project if you aren't actively working on it. If you are actively working on it, and expect it to have users (which most good resume projects should aim for) then I'd go for the refactor. If you want some credit without refactoring the code, just fire in a comment acknowledging the mistake and explaining how to fix it. It depends on the interview style whether or not they will read your code or not Hope that helps! I'm sure others will have different feelings than me, but in my experience, you generally know yourself how you feel about the code and whether or not you'd hire yourself based off of it.
johnny  the fifth
well i did this project is about two years ago when i was learning react js i didn't know much about firebase or programming as i do now , this is a portfolio project there will be no active users this is not a production environment project you can create an account login , have a cart and checkout all of that stuff no real payment method the checkout just clears the cart i created it to demonstrate skills with react js not to be a production app at all , i will have two projects in my portfolio that will be top 2 including this one
Luke
Luke2mo ago
i will have two projects in my portfolio that will be top 2 including this one
if it's over 2 years old and your knowledge and skill has significantly increased, I would either throw it out and start again or refactor it. Why would you present something today saying you are a much better programmer and yet hand them code from 2 years ago? It doesn't make any sense. This guys video gives some "OK" advice: https://youtu.be/nlSgxeT2_dc?si=S1Jh71gOHqw5beXp&t=251 after that timestamp (though the Do's section is a bit iffy) The advice I recieved from my boss (though don't tell anyone else he told me this 👀) is that your portfolio should include an answer to a problem you actually have. He built a 2FA app using react native for example that is open-source and he uses every day. It's different, a bit more advanced and it solves a problem and has a real user (him). Having users on a project is a much different skill set from building apps to quite literally rust on a showcase.
Kenny Gunderman
YouTube
Developer Portfolio Do's and Don'ts
🌐 Join my free software developer community: https://www.skool.com/software-developer-academy?invite=e1b020c78de04e5eac45b531b669e225 📚 Free 0 to Full-Time Programmer in 5 Steps eBook: http://kgunderman.com/newsletter In this video, I talk about what your developer portfolio should and shouldn't look like when preparing for your first programmi...
Luke
Luke2mo ago
Hope that helps, please re-consider showing 2 year old code w/no users to get a job, I tried, it seriously does not work
johnny  the fifth
there was some other issues with the project that's why i came back to it i had a problem with routing u could access any routes even if your not logged in i fixed that the solution wasn't ideal at the time i would redirect the user to the login page if he is not logged in but the restricted page would render before the user is redirected to the login eventually i read the react router docs and figured it out , the design was bad i changed it , if you were to view a product there would be a popup that shows the full details of the project instead of a page which is what i am working on right now , i removed the popup it took me my about 20 days to do these things i am at the point where i am bored as hell from this project i wanna move on to the next project
Luke
Luke2mo ago
I'm not really sure how to reply other than, if I were you it sounds like one I might just throw in the archive pile since it sounds like you don't really want to work on it - and that will kill your productivity. I'd focus on finding things you care about first
johnny  the fifth
so do u think i should leave that issue and just present that project ?
Luke
Luke2mo ago
If you can avoid it, I would not present it That’s not to be mean. But I’m ngl, I’d never present work I did 2 years ago to represent today me unless I am well into my career. I think every dev feels more or less the same If you’re going to spend considerable time either way, do it on something you enjoy. And from what you’ve said so far, sounds like that is not this.
johnny  the fifth
i have a problem with this field where if i work on a project for too long i get bored until i get to a point where i don't want to look at it anymore idk if this is a personal problem or it's just with programming
Luke
Luke2mo ago
idk, I have a similar problem I think it's more not having users than anything else that causes mine bcs at work I'm fine I could work on things for months or years (and have)
johnny  the fifth
so employers do look at your code when u get hired if it's so important to my make sure you have good code
Luke
Luke2mo ago
again, it depends. More so for your case why I was saying I wouldn't suggest it is it sounds like your skills are very different, so the type of project you could produce is also likely a lot different and probably a lot better. It's not even necessarily the code itself for some interviews ex. theo has discussed this, they give you the option to (or will just) open up your github, pick a repo and ask you to talk them through it and what you'd do differently and so on and for some they j give you coding challenges mine was like I got a wireframe of a weather app an api to consume and asked how I'd make it with tools the company uses if an interviewer throws out a google style question, and you can answer it - your min comp is 100k ok? 😂
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