Portfolie... was Re: Am I experienced?

["Dan Roberts" <droberts63 -at- earthlink -dot- net>]

Andrew advises...
>Have a killer portfolio that is slick and polished.

On the surface, this sounds like excellent advice, but the more I think about
it, the more I go "hrm..."

I've never been asked for a portfolio. Writing samples, yes; portfolio, no. And
the interviewers generally asked for writing samples to be brought to the
interview. So, I brought a few short things that were examples of what I could
do (a release note, a short install guide, a short chapter from a user doc) and
usually tried to target my sample to the type of material the interview position
would require (eg, I didn't bring 10-yr old mainframe doc to the interview at a
web-app shop). And the interviewers rarely did more than glance at formatting
and layout  (everyone seems to like bullets and ordered lists, short paragraphs,
judicious use of white space, bolding, and headings) and maybe spot-read a bit.

So I'm wondering about the value of presenting an entire 'portfolio' to an
interviewer contrasted with the value of retaining a 'portfolio' from which an
interviewee selects appropriate selections for an interview.

Also, I'm wondering how folks decide that material is "their's" enough to be
included in a portfolio? Luckily, I've had to write topics, sections, books,
with little usable source doc and little extensive editing (a comma here, a
deleted word there). And I've written doc where I've ravaged existing company
doc (business plans, specs, marcomm, existing user doc, etc) for anything useful
I can get my hands on (all internal stuff, so no risk of plagarism). And it
depends on the amount of revision, addition, expansion that I've had to do to
the latter type before I consider it an example of "my" writing.

In addition, I'm wondering how much you "like" the doc that you include in yr
portfolio/sample? I've written stuff that, because The Powers That Be wanted the
doc a certain way, I've hated and despised with a passion transcending all else
(hrm, I think the caffiene is kicking in). While I didn't particularly like the
final doc, it *was* representative of my 'style' of writing. OTOH, other doc
that I've had no particular emotional attachment to (other than perhaps a
slightly different way of approaching a rather common task), I've included,
simply to show that I can work with that kind of material.

So I'm wondering how folks really use portfolios/samples, what they include, why
they include them. And on the flip side, what do the folks that do the
interviewing really look for when they ask for portfolios/samples. How much of a
sample do you want, does presentation affect yr opinion, and how does the type
of sample affect yr judgement?

Discuss amongst yrselves--I'm veklempt <g>