Strengthen Your Portfolio by Completing Real Projects. Here’s how.

Are you a recent graduate with a UX /UI Design degree or certificate?

Make your portfolio stand out from all the rest.

Plus, potential employers love to see ‘real-world’ projects in your portfolio.

You don’t have to settle for your student projects.

Try this instead.

Visit these websites. Complete one or more projects that will be used in the real world.

If you don’t feel confident working for a paid client, check out the last two options. They let you put your skills to work by helping charities and nonprofit organizations.

Tech Fleet

Gain real team experience. Join project teams to practice industry skills with your peers with support from the community.

They pair leads and trainees on cross-functional Agile teams. Together, you help solve business problems with clients.

UX Foundations

Work with other professionals solving real-world problems. Choose to be a team lead or fill the role of a UX Designer, UX Researcher, UI Designer, or any combination.

Team leads choose their team members and you’ll meet regularly as you complete a project. Website coming soon!

Catchafire

This is a network of volunteers, nonprofits, and funders working together to solve problems and support communities.

Projects range from writing to marketing to finance to design to event planning — and everything in-between.

Create a Catchafire profile and apply for volunteer opportunities through a 2-question application.

The organization may ask you for an interview if they consider it a potential fit.

Freelancer

This is a site with freelancers, projects, and companies from around the world.

Signing up requires filling out a short registration form. There are hundreds of projects to bid on.

This site also offers contests. These contests are a way for freelancers to earn money as well as get reviews on their profiles.

Fiverr

This is a good place for freelancers to get started, although success rates vary across the board.

You can set your own starting prices, packages, and add-ons.

With careful screening, you can find some interesting projects to work on.