It's not that hard to put a simple example together. It definitely does NOT require hundreds of hours and maintenance. I update mine once a year to add a new project or whatever. Takes a few hours tops. Besides, a lot of these people had projects already - I just couldn't easily view them, and if I was the HR lady I wouldn't even have the ability to view them. Put them somewhere they can be seen - again, not that hard. One guy did a screen recording of one of his so you didn't have to run it, I thought that was pretty smart.

Look, you can apply to wherever you want without a portfolio if that's your thing. But if there's 20 people they're trying to narrow down and 19 have a portfolio and 1 doesn't, it's hard to justify to the hiring manager why they should do an in-person interview with that 1 guy over everyone else, you know? Unless there's something on his resume that really sticks out. And it is not just our company that looks for a portfolio. I don't think i've ever applied anywhere that didn't ask for a portfolio. Your not putting together one for me, you're putting it together for your job hunt in general.