How do you use your data portfolio to network and connect with other data professionals?

Choosing a data set that captures your interest, and one that you have deep contextual knowledge of, is a great starting point. User engagement starts with the level of excitement and interest you have in the use case you're building.

It is important to showcase your proposition and relevance to the audience problems. So if you target potential clients for example, it would be good if you would categorize your portfolio by market segment, for example. I would try to use real world cases, to the extend possible. Don't forget that clients (past and present) have to agree on disclosing information about their project, either it is the client name, anonymized screenshots, etc. I would also use some interactive demos. Platforms like Power BI allow you to publish a report you make on the web, so the user can interact with it, like using it within Power BI. Shiny offers similar functionality for R and Python. Some videos would also be nice to have I think.

Online Platforms: Share your data projects on professional networking platforms like LinkedIn, GitHub, or Kaggle. Create detailed project descriptions, highlight your methodologies, showcase visualizations, and discuss insights gained. Engage with other professionals by commenting on their projects and participating in relevant discussions. Data Science Communities: Join online communities and forums dedicated to data science, such as Data Science Central, Stack Overflow, or Reddit's r/datascience. Actively contribute by sharing your projects, offering advice, and collaborating on discussions. Networking within these communities can lead to valuable connections and opportunities.

I'd consider the following while making my project selection -- Empathize with my audience (Drive engagement) AND Ensure that I understand the data and the problem being solved (Can't connect over something I do not fully understand) AND Aligns with my interest (Speaker enthusiasm matters)

I would add that you should choose projects that inspire and excite you. The more engaged and committed you are to the topic, the more likely you'll be inspired to create great work, which is more likely to engage and audience and showcase your talents!

A portfolio website is the best way for people to showcase their work and the understanding of the skillset. Work on showcasing portfolio projects in a way it demonstrates more than just technical skills. Example, write about your work as it provides context and also showcases your communication skills which are essential for every role. Though, in my experience I see people too hung up on quantity of projects rather than quality. When creating a portfolio website try to keep the distractions limited and showcase work that you want the viewer to be funneled into.

GitHub pages are my favorite as well. You can create a portfolio website for free and showcase your work. You can use pretty much everything you'd use in a website: screenshots, embedded code notebooks, links to youtube videos, etc. Having a Power BI pro license, I was also able to embedd a 'live' Power BI report, that the visitor can interact with, to see how it would be using it in 'real-life'.

Specific to BI development, leveraging the public embed capabilities of tools such as Tableau or Power BI is a great way to showcase your visual design prowess. This allows you to embed within your own personal website and showcase your work.

I found that creating a Github page for displaying your projects is a valuable addition. Additionally, platforms like Medium or LinkedIn are great in sharing your professional expertise and building an online presence.

Share your data projects on social platforms like LinkedIn where people talk about data. Join in on conversations, give your thoughts and ask for advice on your work. This can help you find other people who are interested in the same things as you. You might even work together on new projects.

One great way to build engagement with your portfolio is to create dashboards that dive into popular, non-work-related topics. Visualizing sports, media, or pop culture trends is a great way to showcase your skills to a wider audience.

Promoting your portfolio through LinkedIn, Kaggle or open community data forums on Slack are a great way to gain exposure to your work product. This also allows avenues to engage potential users and get their feedback.

Sharing your portfolio can open a lot of opportunities for you: - Ignite conversations around data and your expertise - Attract interest from recruiters and hiring managers - Potential clients can easily review your work and reach out to you directly for freelance/contract gigs

Interacting with thought leaders on online forums is a good start. But building a person-to-person network in attending physical user group meetups is a great way to gain exposure and have broader conversations that might not be captured well over digital communication.

The best thing I’ve done in my career is building out an extensive network early on. A network is not something you build when you need, but something you hopefully have the moment you need, which means you have to build it before you need it. Engaging with thought leaders on LinkedIn is a great way to start building that network.