Think a sleek design is all it takes to land your dream developer job? Think again. The design of your portfolio is only a small piece of the puzzle; its structure is what determines whether a user is impacted by what it reveals about your coding skills, technical knowledge, and approach to problem-solving.
A truly impressive portfolio combines a user-friendly structure with a design that aids your skills and gives a taste of your personality!
Begin with a Clear Introduction
Depending on the context of why a visitor is visiting your site, you usually only have less than a minute to engage them to continue viewing your portfolio. This means that based on the content that a user sees at the top of your homepage will determine whether or not they decide to even think about scrolling down or navigating to another page in your portfolio.
That is why it is crucial to start with a clear introduction, let users get an immediate sense of who you are.
To create a Clear Introduction, consider including these elements at the start of your homepage:
- Your name and a professional title
- A short tagline that summarizes your expertise
- (Optional) - A professional photo to create a personal connection
Examples of a Clear Introduction:
John includes all three elements; their name and professional title, a short tagline that summarizes their expertise, and a professional photo.
Ashish has their name, professional title, expertise, and the skills their actively using. Choosing to display a portion of skills you either prefer or are most familiar with at the start of your website, you allow visitors to immediately see that you are skilled for skills they are looking for.
Showcase Tangible Skills with Real Projects
Visitors want to see what you built to view your skills and experience in a tangible way. Having your projects placed immediately after your introduction, will satisfy the majority of users visiting your website as this is typically enough for them to get a sense of who you are.
To effectively showcase your projects, add these elements to your project components:
- Project Titles: Use clear and descriptive titles
- Project Description: Write a brief overview of each project including:
- Purpose and goals of the project.
- Technologies used (frameworks, languages,tools)
- Links to the live project and its source code (e.g., GitHub)
- Screenshots or Demos: Visuals of elements of your project can enhance engagement
Examples:
Highlight Your Skills
Clearly presenting your technical skills after your projects is necessary since you may have skills that you have not used to build a project. These can be skills from college (or a bootcamp) where you learned a popular database language, or a programming language.
This section of your developer portfolio is the one that allows for the most creativity. Choosing which way you display your skills is a personal preference, the most important thing for this section is that it MUST allow visitors to quickly get an understanding of your skills.
Add one (or more) of these to your skills section:
- A list of programming languages, frameworks, and tools you are proficient in
- Use visual elements like icons to make it visually appealing - Do not only have icons for skills that a hiring manager may not know the name of.
- Consider categorizing your skills into digestible lists (e.g. Front End, Back End...) - This will give hiring managers a quick snapshot of your strengths.
It's important that you DO NOT include visual elements like skill bars - They cannot accurately represent your proficiency, and can make you look less knowledgeable in a particular skill.
Make it Easy to Contact You
Visitors from your site may want to contact you for collaborations, or to message you personally regarding a position you are qualified to apply for.
Add one (or more) of these to your website to ensure users have a way of contacting you from your website:
- Links to your professional social media profiles (LinkedIn, Twitter)
- Your email address
- Your GitHub account
- (Optional) - An embedded contact form
Optimize For Mobile
63% of global web traffic comes from mobile devices. Optimizing your web portfolio for mobile will ensure all users who visit your site have a positive experience.
Consider using these methods to ensure your portfolio is optimized for mobile:
- Use a mobile-first design approach
- Test the portfolio on different devices to ensure a seamless experience. To do this you can use Google Chrome to simulate different mobile/tablet devices.
Conclusion
Building a developer portfolio is a crucial step in presenting yourself to potential employers. By structuring your portfolio effectively, you can showcase your skills, share your story, and demonstrate your passion for technology.
Remember your portfolio is a direct reflection of you- make it professional, and polished with a touch of personality!