Mind did, but I am a technical writer not a dev so take that with a grain of salt.
During my job search, it was nice to have a portfolio to point to because I didn't have any "official" writing samples from my previous jobs (gov't). I wrote tutorials on some simple tech stuff - e.g., "How to install [this tool] on [whatever OS]" - as well as some thoughts on trying to learn computer science fundamentals as technical writer.
It really helped in the interviews to be able to talk candidly about all the fun I had learning different things, and the process had given me a deeper understanding of the tech related to the job.
During my job search, it was nice to have a portfolio to point to because I didn't have any "official" writing samples from my previous jobs (gov't). I wrote tutorials on some simple tech stuff - e.g., "How to install [this tool] on [whatever OS]" - as well as some thoughts on trying to learn computer science fundamentals as technical writer.
It really helped in the interviews to be able to talk candidly about all the fun I had learning different things, and the process had given me a deeper understanding of the tech related to the job.