7 years out of school and showing only SOME pro work? i only still have 1 project from grad school in my portfolio...not judging, just curious that you would not have more/all pro work...?

personally i prefer fewer images and big. is tough to edit, but good practice.

use whatever that shows them all that u can do,
or, in this current condition, and not knowing your situation, i would show them what they want to see,, defeatist i know, but, do what you can

I think it depends on the scale of the projects. I'm nine years out of school, and I've only worked on four projects... but they're all 1M+ square feet. If I had more variety in the projects I worked on, I would probably treat them separately and mix and match depending on the firm I was targeting.

My work sample pages are laid out on a grid system design coordinated with my résumé and portfolio. Four to six small photographs or renderings per project are all I show, with a short descriptive paragraph at the bottom of the page. One of those projects (an airport expansion) is particularly complex... so it gets two pages. The others are one page each.

Everything I've read, and all of the headhunters/HR people I've spoken to agree that unless you have a school project of exceptional quality, by 3-5 years experience you should be showing only professional work.

This brings up an interesting question I've been pondering for a while now. Everyone seems to say after 3 to 5 years you should only have professional work samples in your portfolio. After 4 years I haven't been in the position to design a project. I've had some large roles in projects but never had any real input in the design of a project, it's always fulfilling someone else's design intentions
So if I'm only submitting professional work I'm not submitting anything involving my design ability. This becomes especially important if your design sense varies from the firm you work at. You are essentially selling your previous firms design aesthetic.
I understand the benefit of showing the work since it shows your skills. I seriously doubt many in their first 3-5 years really has much professional work to show their design skills though. It seems the only place to get this would be to include one or two school projects?

Yes, I have this same dilemma. This is why I was planning to show one school project and then 2-3 professional projects. I did an M Arch degree mid-career, so I still feel that the school work is still relevant, and the work I did prior to the master's degree I am kind of embarrassed of. Actually, I am not so proud of my recent professional work either, and it is very different from what I would design myself. Kind of sad...

So for work samples, do people show more photos or renderings, rather than drawings? Especially since drawings would not show so well at a small scale? For a single page, there is not enough room to tell the story, is there? Is it supposed to just give a sense of the scale and type of project, rather than the process or complete picture?

thanks!

Also, for examples of professional work, should only one's own work be shown, or the best images of the project be shown, even if I didn't directly work on some of them, but feel that I contributed as a team member? Do all team credits need to be acknowledged on the work sample sheet, or is it sufficient to do this in the portfolio?

^I am having that same dilemma. I have all the pretty "money shot" pictures of my favorite professional project on my portfolio, now I am debating putting casework drawings I did for that project in my portfolio as well, since that part pf the project is my design. Should I put casework drawings in the portfolio, or show them when I show my CD samples?

Some of these are really good questions, and I think the universal answer applies: "It depends."

Work samples are part of marketing yourself. Consider the firm you're targeting: Do they specialize in small-scale residential? Office towers? Transportation? Pick the projects you've worked on that will help demonstrate that you a) have the background in the appropriate building type, or b) have worked on projects of a similar scale, or c) demonstrate your problem-solving and design ability.

At my employer's office, someone with 3 years experience is a Junior who needs to be taught how to detail and isn't a "designer". We're looking at problem-solving abilities and the types of projects you've worked on, not for a particular design aesthetic. Given the firm's portfolio of high-end corporate work, you would be surprised at the backgrounds of some of our employees.

Most projects are going to be collaborations of one sort or another, it's unrealistic to expect everything you show to be something you single-handedly brought to life. Depending on the size of a project it can be unrealistic to put full team credits: my current project has had more than 40 people work on it over the years, never mind the consultant team. I would put that information in the portfolio, with maybe a small note on the work sample indicating that credits are listed elsewhere.

I personally would never attempt to show drawings (line art) on a work sample, as the format is too small to do it justice. You're not trying to tell the full story in the sample: that's why it's called a sample. Save the detail sheets for the interview--they'll be important for sparking conversation with the interviewer about your working process and approach to solving problems.

Those are my thoughts, at least.