While the title is rightfully provocative, I think that digging into the nuances really explains how this is possible. I have worked at an agency, and inside two large corporate companies. Some of the leading design (and engineering) talent we worked with had virtually no online presence, aside from a LinkedIn profile and some obscure websites like StackOverflow, Medium, etc, where there accounts were dormant. There were two people in particular that I am thinking of who were ghosts online, but they were in hands-on, leading roles for massive projects. It is easy to describe this as laziness, being to busy, or anything else that comes to mind. It is probably a complex mix of variables. Maybe they just have a large collection of files that they share privately and provide verbal walkthroughs for. Just because they don't have a website, it shouldn't disqualify them. I believe that is Jared's point. By excluding all people without a portfolio, you might be missing out on some great candidates.
I don't think that having a solid portfolio with recent work would hurt anyone though. The title and tone suggests that might be his recommendation, but I certainly didn't interpret it that way at all.
I'm just glad to see discussion around the fact that online portfolios seem less and less common these days compared to a few years ago. Lots of designers just use Behance, Dribbble, Twitter, or Instagram to post their work and attract new clients.
While the title is rightfully provocative, I think that digging into the nuances really explains how this is possible. I have worked at an agency, and inside two large corporate companies. Some of the leading design (and engineering) talent we worked with had virtually no online presence, aside from a LinkedIn profile and some obscure websites like StackOverflow, Medium, etc, where there accounts were dormant. There were two people in particular that I am thinking of who were ghosts online, but they were in hands-on, leading roles for massive projects. It is easy to describe this as laziness, being to busy, or anything else that comes to mind. It is probably a complex mix of variables. Maybe they just have a large collection of files that they share privately and provide verbal walkthroughs for. Just because they don't have a website, it shouldn't disqualify them. I believe that is Jared's point. By excluding all people without a portfolio, you might be missing out on some great candidates.
I don't think that having a solid portfolio with recent work would hurt anyone though. The title and tone suggests that might be his recommendation, but I certainly didn't interpret it that way at all.
I'm just glad to see discussion around the fact that online portfolios seem less and less common these days compared to a few years ago. Lots of designers just use Behance, Dribbble, Twitter, or Instagram to post their work and attract new clients.