First off thank you for the excellent post, this is exactly why I chose to post this here. Amazing advice compared to anywhere else. Second - In terms of "portfolio" - I am a college student, so I haven't had much of a chance to get a lot of work. Would you suggest making dummy/boilerplate websites with nice designs to start off my portfolio? Or is it generally better to save your portfolio for strictly work you've been paid for, etc?

Thank you for great advice so far, looking forward to more!