Kinds of work to include in portfolio

[jwbradshaw]

I am currently employed at a large corporation and have decided to start freelancing at night and on the weekends. I'm working on my portfolio and I want to know if its okay to include websites that I have designed while employed.

I am the only web designer/webmaster employed here and I have designed and created several external websites for field office reps and things like that.

Is it okay to include that kind of work in my personal portfolio as long as I mention it was created while working for said corporation?

[vincevincevince]

First of all, read your contract of employment. Most likely, it is in black and white that you are not allowed to disclose any information about clients or their businesses to third parties without prior permission. That being the case; you must ask for prior permission from your employer.

If you approach it the right way, you could walk out of there with permission to give the references, a boss who is now thinking of ways to help retain you (e.g. more money, stock options, etc.) and a lot fewer worries!

I strongly suggest that you practice the conversation with someone else, especially someone with management experience; don't mess it up as if you go about it the wrong way you could really upset things at work.