Thr reality is most people got lucky ,there was too much funding,now there is no funding and bootcamps are pumping out Designers,.
The only people who have privilege are the one who went to top end design school to get filtered out,but they never agree to that privileges that they have and brag u don't need design dgree.
The worst thing about portfolios are everyone have different taste,some don't like dark theme,some hate dark theme, some like detail process,some want simple.
The whole thing is a message and most people are Just trying to squeez out money from juniors who are desperate to get into industry bragging of mentorship and all.
What mentorship can 1 years experience people give.
Truth is nobody actually knows what actually works,all just giving generic or personal things that worked out for them.