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Anmol Baranwal
Anmol Baranwal

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Make your portfolio in just 4 hours? It's possible.

Can you make your portfolio in 4 hours.
Sounds crazy, right?

Your portfolio is a website that showcases your best work, personality, and talents. You can get hired, and people can know more about you.

Creating a good portfolio involves following various rules, and the conditions depend on your career. For instance, it can be totally different for UX Designers vs Software Developers.

What I think a good portfolio should be like.

For me, these three things are mandatory for a good portfolio.
It should be Simple. Working. Professional.

  • The experience of someone visiting a portfolio should be good.
  • The person should be able to contact you (generally a contact form).
  • The portfolio should have a story and a little bit of personal touch.
  • It should be on a domain name to improve credibility.
  • It shouldn't have too many fancy animations that will ruin the moment.

Why should you even make a portfolio?

It's a common practice to have a portfolio, especially if you have multiple things to showcase.

Not everyone has the time or resources to make a unique portfolio that perfectly fits their needs.

Well, you shouldn't.
There is no need in this evolving world.
There are no code tools that are pretty easy to use.

But can you make a portfolio in under a day or even 1 hour?

We cannot make the best portfolio, but we can make a decent one that works well.

It's okay if you don't like this because I understand it takes a lot to make a portfolio with your own unique style.

Everyone has their own experiences, and everyone tries to help each other based on what we have learned across the years.

A little note

I'm a big fan of UX laws and know what it takes to be good.
I'm not covering no-code tools like Bubble, Framer, Wix & Squarespace since they are already popular.


I manage several social profiles, so I always struggle with which socials to direct the audience to.

Most people struggle with having multiple profiles, and you must have heard of linktree or bento.

You're more than a series of links about you.
You have to tell your story. And that STORY matters.
A portfolio is the best way to do that, so here are some of the tools that will be helpful for someone who wants a quick portfolio with a decent user experience.

You can connect to your domain with each option.
I can bet this post will surprise you.

Let's get started then.


1. Polywork

Polywork was one of the best products of 2022.
It can convert your LinkedIn profile into a personal website in seconds.

I'm a big fan of polywork of just how easy it is to make your unique style portfolio. It has a Graphical editor that will let you create sections, and you can also use AI under the hood.

Trust me, it's everything you will ever need.

polywork

 

The best thing is that it's free, and you can buy it for around $96 for a year. That's a pretty good deal considering all the new fonts, layouts, and colors you'll unlock with the premium version.

This is from one of those templates. Cool right :D

template

 

In the free version, you get a button to randomize your portfolio (different themes and layout). Try it for sure!

You can add a personalized link like this.

links

 

You can create highlights, along with sections like "About Me," "Social Links," and a personalized "Heading." Plus, there's a wide selection of over 1,000 badges tailored to various profiles for you to choose from.

badges

 

The out-of-the-box is that you can control your social card, metadata, and even the title of the page. That gives you complete control that can make your portfolio look authentic.

social card

 

There is so much to talk but the handiest feature is how quickly someone can contact you.
It's like in mere seconds, And let's face it, that's exactly what every portfolio needs.

contact

 

You can check my polywork profile as a sample.

profile

 

One of the best profiles on polywork is from Mike Bifulco - Co-Founder of Craftwork. Check it out!

It won't even take you more than 4 hours to create a good portfolio on polywork.

 

2. Peerlist

I've been a part of Peerlist for several months now. I'm also part of their beta mobile users.

You can make a good portfolio on your domain name apart from other things you can do with peerlist.
Let's discuss some of those.

peerlist

peerlist

You can have everything in one single profile.

  • GitHub profile, Contributions, and pinned repositories
  • DEV + Hashnode + Medium blog posts
  • YouTube videos
  • Substack + RSS Feed
  • Codeforces and other coding profiles
  • You can even add your hunted or maker products from Product Hunt

Basically everything :D

work

projects

There is also a concept of collections on peerlist. I've seen those elsewhere, but getting these under your profile is indeed awesome.

You can add your social profile cards in one place.
And your recommended videos, books, podcasts, or custom ones.

collections

You can even find jobs and get verified with your resume & experience.

verified

One more thing you can do is vouch for someone which improves credibility and gives you a clear edge on the profile. It is similar to the recommendation on LinkedIn, but they have made it slightly creative with the card.

vouch

You can connect your profile to your custom domain for free. So, this is what your portfolio will look like.

custom domain

 

By the way, if you're wondering -> your social links will be at the bottom.

You can even get your project spotlighted at peerlist :D
There are a lot of things involved, and I can't cover them all.

I will cover something exciting from Peerlist in a later post.
Be tuned!

 

3. Showwcase

The main aim of Showwcase is to create a strong developer community. Showwcase was the first one that I used several months ago.

showwcase

 

A simple yet powerful way to showcase your story.

One of the most unique features is that you can connect with Stripe, and you can earn money from paid followers. How cool is that?

These are some of the sections that you can make apart from custom ones.

sections

 

You can easily add social links and check some awesome communities like Open Source, Hackathons, Internships, Portfolios, and many more.

social links

You can get referrals and even add collaborators which is one heck of a deal. I was amazed by this from the very start.

collaborators

 

You can generate and make your ATS-friendly resume with your personal link.
For instance, you can find mine here. It uses the website information. By the way, my profile is not updated :D

The community is huge, and I have been a part of Showwcase for several months.

profile

 

You can check my showwcase profile at anmol-baranwal.showwcase.com

See the profile of Rong - CEO of Showwcase.

You can hire and get hired at Showwcase.

I'm not a fan of the resume feature, which simply gathers data from the profile. Having your resume would be more beneficial.
But Showwcase already provides more than you need.

 

4. Read

This is another way to make your portfolio. I loved the user interface of Read.

The best thing is that someone can contact you on the go, and it's so easy to find that contact button with a sweet emoji. It actually encourages people to use that contact section.

Read.cv banner

 

You can check the profile of Edmundo Santos on ReadCV. It's pretty great.

profile

 

There are various sections like social links, experiences, side projects, speaking, writing, and many more.

social links

 

The number of sections that you can add is unbelievable. It gives you a lot of flexibility in the sections.

sections

 

Of course, there are job listings and a custom domain to which you can link your profile.
The layout is fixed, but it is more than enough to get you started.

I've seen so many great people using Read as their go-to profile!

 


These are some awesome resources that you can use.


When you connect your profile to a domain, no one has the time to see if you made the portfolio yourself. It is amazing as long as it works for YOU.

Did you find this helpful?

I've tried these except ReadCV (newbie) for many months and only then I'm letting you know.
By the way, none of these are sponsored. I wish it were. LOL!

If you're sticking to those plain, boring tools, you're missing out. You can create your portfolio without any hassle in this techy world.

Coders would deny that creating such a portfolio won't work, well it's not true, and it's good if it works for you.

I've done programming for 5k+ hours, and I'm telling.
Anything good is better than having a bad portfolio.

As I said at the start, it's okay if you don't want to create your original portfolio with programming because only developers should do it using code.

What more do you need?
Hurry! Create your portfolio and show the world :D

Which do you think is the best? I like Polywork & Read. Both are the least ones I've used in the list :D

I'm glad I finally wrote this.
I write content by researching thoroughly and sharing my experiences. You can support me by sponsoring me on GitHub.

Please please follow me on GitHub & Twitter :)

If you are keen on sponsoring this post, shoot me a message at anmolbaranwal119@gmail.com or hit me up on Twitter! 🚀

Anmol-Baranwal (Anmol Baranwal) · GitHub

Top 5% GitHub 💜 Open Source Advocate & Maintainer 😄 Full-Stack Developer 🔖 Technical Writer (100k+ Views) 🔥 Managing 5+ Communities 🚀 Open for collab - Anmol-Baranwal

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Top comments (25)

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codewithcaen profile image
CodeWithCaen

Or use HydePHP to turn your GitHub Readme into a static site hosted on GitHub Pages, in just a few minutes!

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anmolbaranwal profile image
Anmol Baranwal

Wow! I didn't know about that.
It could be helpful, but as you know, the Readme is limited in what we can do. We have limited control over layout details like fonts and such.
Anyway, I appreciate it! Thanks for sharing :D

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codewithcaen profile image
CodeWithCaen

Of course! That's why Hyde also supports Blade and HTML when it's needed. But for basic sites, it's so easy and fast I just had to mention it :)

Btw, my homepage is based on my GitHub Readme and made with Hyde caen.desilva.se - all the HTML and CSS comes with Hyde to make it easy and fast to get started!

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anmolbaranwal profile image
Anmol Baranwal

Well, you should have told me that you built it :D
I think I'm gonna write a post on this. If I do, I will tag you in the post. The portfolio is very clean and good. Best wishes to you and your team!

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codewithcaen profile image
CodeWithCaen

My bad! I'm excited to see what you can do! Let me know if you need anything :)

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lilxyzz profile image
Travis

Anmol, your post is fantastic! I'm positive that it will motivate many individuals to start building their portfolios. As for Peerlist, I find it to be a great, dynamic tool that allows me to bring together all of my development networks. Additionally, the fact that it gives the option to configure a subdomain is killer. ✌️

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anmolbaranwal profile image
Anmol Baranwal

Thanks!

Yeah! Peerlist is awesome, considering the long period it spent in beta.
I didn't know about the subdomain feature :D

Hopefully, this can help others create their portfolios.

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lilxyzz profile image
Travis

I think it’s a great feature! Just a little bit hidden. The link below should get you to the right place after you have logged in. :)

peerlist.io/user/settings/custom-d...

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anmolbaranwal profile image
Anmol Baranwal

I've decided to make my own portfolio (after 2.5 years of coding), which feels like a big irony for this post. LOL!

You should definitely have a portfolio unless you can use something for similar purpose; in my case it's GitHub.
You should definitely use these options as a starting point.

If you want me to write on something else, let me know in comments.
I hope you loved this!

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matteosant_dev profile image
Matteo Santoro Dev

Very useful article.

It didn't take me 4 hours but this is my portfolio, I will be happy to welcome any feedback.

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anmolbaranwal profile image
Anmol Baranwal

I saw that from the very beginning (after 1 day of the post) and even shared it with others. We all loved your portfolio.
It was very well appreciated in the Discord dev community. You've done fantastic work showcasing your skills.
I would recommend adding a contact form. Some might not go to the trouble of visiting your social profiles to connect with you.
Thank you for sharing :D

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greenteaisgreat profile image
Nathan G Bornstein

Seriously, that gameboy portfolio is legendary. Everyone on dev.to has seen the gloriousness that it is. Some day it will be lore on dev.to for how epic it was and if it truly even existed at all 🤔

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matteosant_dev profile image
Matteo Santoro Dev • Edited

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!

I'will update it with clickable email.

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dev_kiran profile image
Kiran Naragund

Great list @anmolbaranwal !

Here is the another useful resource for building portfolios

@matteosant_dev Thanks for adding your awesome portfolio to the list :)

GitHub logo Kiran1689 / Awesome-Dev-Portfolios

This repository aims to collect portfolios and their repositories from developers around the world.

Awesome Dev Portfolios

Made With React built with love badge built by developers badge open source badge
check it out badge Vercel Deploy License Maintenance Website Price

Have you built or do you want to build an awesome developer portfolio? You are in the right place This repository aims to collect portfolios and their repositories from developers around the world.

How this will Help?🤷‍♂️

This repo helps developers who wants to build portfolio by taking inspiration from already deployed Portfolios For those who already built, Showcase your Awesome Portfolio to the world.

Live Deployment🤩

Preview


Checkout the live deployment of Awesome Dev Portfolios at awesome-dev-portfolios.vercel.app Feel free to browse through the showcased portfolios for inspiration.

How to contribute or Add your Portfolio?😎

All contributions are welcome. Every contribution counts.

1. Adding Your Portfolio:💻

For Adding your Portfolio please follow the guidelines in the CONTRIBUTING file.

2. Bug Reports:🐛

If you face any issues or bugs while using this project, please feel free to create a new Issue in the Issues section.

3. Feature Requests:💡

If you have…

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anmolbaranwal profile image
Anmol Baranwal

I already know of more than 3 resources that list good portfolios. I was aware of this one as well. I still believe the best repository is by Victor Eke, where you can find 500+ good portfolios.
This will eventually grow. Thank you for creating such an awesome project :D

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christinepinto profile image
Christine Pinto

What a refreshing take on creating a portfolio in just 4 hours! This approach truly demystifies the process and makes it seem so achievable and less daunting. I'm excited to try this out and see how it transforms the portfolio-making experience. Great share!

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pepo946 profile image
Mohamed Gandoul

if i did save a post like your post, because is a treasure where I can found it again , like where I can found my saved posts

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Anmol Baranwal

HAHA! I'm glad you saved it for later.
You can find it at dev.to/readinglist :D

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pepo946 profile image
Mohamed Gandoul

finallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy , thank you so mushhh :)

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get_pieces profile image
Pieces 🌟

Very useful, article. Thanks for sharing🔥

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officialphaqwasi profile image
Isaac Klutse

wow this is a great article

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respect17 profile image
Kudzai Murimi

Thanks for sharing!

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andylarkin677 profile image
Andy Larkin

Wow! I'll try to do that today!

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Anmol Baranwal

Yeah please! Don't forget to share what you built :D

Who knows, your work might inspire me to create something even better!

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varshni11 profile image
Varshni11

The post was awesome. Good to know such resources exists!

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