The Hard Truth
Becoming an engineer is easy. Standing out? Not so much.
Spoiler:
Everyone has a GitHub now.
Everyone deploys to the cloud.
Everyone’s adding AI to projects like it’s salt on eggs.
But not everyone knows how to show they can solve real problems, communicate like a human, and stay ahead of the curve.
Let’s fix that. (Before another recruiter asks if you have "React experience.")
Your Work = A Story (Not a Project Graveyard)
You can check out how I approach this oche.vercel.app and github.com/OcheOps.
I don’t just throw projects around like confetti. (We’ve all seen that GitHub heatmap that’s green for all the wrong reasons )
I curate:
The problems I love solving.
How I’ve grown (and messed up... many times).
Where I’m headed next.
Curate. Don’t hoard. Your GitHub isn’t a garage sale.
Real Value = Problems Solved (Not Just Cool Tools)
Nobody hires you because you know 12 frameworks. (If they do, run.)
They hire you because you:
See a problem.
Build a solution.
Create impact.
Example from my world: “Automated infra deployment → Cut release time by 50%.”
Problem → Solution → Impact.
Every. Single. Time.
If you’re just flexing that you "used Terraform," that’s like saying "I used a calculator." Cool. What did you calculate?
Real Beats Perfect (Always)
Perfect portfolios are boring. (And honestly, a little suspicious. Who has perfect code?)
Mine includes:
Messy projects.
Weird edge cases.
Postmortems where I explain what broke and how I fixed it without getting fired.
Real-world battle scars > Pixel-perfect clones.
Also: README files matter.
Your repo isn’t just code. It’s a conversation.
Good README = what, why, how, results.
Bad README = "npm install" and vibes.
Show Your Growth (Not Just Your Stack)
Your tech stack? Important.
Your growth story? That’s where the real flex lives.
I show:
Early work (simple CRUD apps I’d rather not talk about ).
Mid-level work (real-world tools + scaling).
Current work (infra, automation, team collaboration).
Pro tip: Small notes on what you learned = huge trust signals.
And if your GitHub has old projects? Don’t delete them. Archive and add a note like:
“Look how far we’ve come .”
Soft Skills? Hard Proof.
Code reviews. Postmortems. Mentoring. Infra design.
Don’t just say you can do them. Show where you have.
Tech is a team sport. Soft skills are your secret weapon. (Also, the ability to Google and prompt engineer like a senior dev. But that’s between us.)
Your CV = The Movie Trailer
Your portfolio is the full movie.
Your CV is the hype trailer.
Both should:
Highlight the problems you’ve tackled.
Explain what you built.
Share the results.
If your CV just says “worked with Kubernetes”… yikes.
Tell me why and what it changed.
And please—for the love of DevOps—stop writing "passionate about technology" unless you actually have projects, blogs, or open-source contributions to prove it.
My Engineering Philosophy
I’m not just building for the sake of it.
“I believe in building scalable, secure software that solves real-world problems and improves lives.”
That’s what gets me out of bed (and onto yet another debugging session ).
Also what keeps me from rage-quitting YAML.
TL;DR
Your skills are the price of entry.
Your growth story and problem-solving? That’s your ticket to standing out.
Be the engineer who 10x’s not just tech—but how they communicate their impact.
And write better README files. Seriously. Future-you will thank you.
Quick Challenge
Pick 1 project from your history.
Rewrite the description to highlight the problem → solution → impact.
Then—go fix that README while you’re at it.
Thank me later.