Ask HN: How do I parlay a significant project into interviews?

I recently created a web application that wasn't quite good enough to turn into a product, but was interesting enough to garner attention from the CEO of a major site in the space. I was close to being offered a contract position with that site, but the offer was ultimately rescinded. The CEO and the dev who spoke with me about my project seemed apologetic, but from the start of the interaction the vibe was that they hire people who are experienced and can jump right into their frameworks and go. Although I learned a lot from the project, I'm not an experienced dev and I'm not an expert in any frameworks.

Should I put the backend code for the project on GitHub? Should I link to the app in my LinkedIn profile? I'm partly just depressed that the contract position didn't work out, and I'm even a bit reluctant to create a portfolio website because I can only show off this and one other project (which I did earlier and is much less impressive). I know that I could apply to open junior dev positions and link to my projects, but to be honest I just don't believe that I'll get a response.

I suppose that I'll do all of those things, and I'm not sure what sort of response I'm expecting here; maybe I just needed to vent. Thanks for listening.