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Bertrand Chevalier
Bertrand Chevalier

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What do you want to see on a portfolio website?

I recently developed my very own and first portfolio website (feel free to stop by and provide some comments!). The first objective I’m trying to achieve with it is to start building an online presence. As such, the website remains basic (React front-end only) and only displays some information about me as well as some links towards my various social network accounts (including Dev.to!)
A lot of web developers have their personal website. As such, I wanted to differentiate myself as much as possible with the means I have. To do so I hid some Easter eggs throughout the website for one to find (let me know if you found them - others will come). In addition to differentiating my website from others, it also allows to showcase some technical skills (React components management, Redux management, framework application such as react-bootstrap and other relevant libraries – react-router-dom).
I am however aware that hiding some Easter eggs is not enough and I am therefore wondering: what should be on a portfolio website?
While building mine, I have chosen to include the following sections:

  • Home: Just to greet people, this section presents myself in one line (three given the font size) and invite people to explore the website more.
  • Portfolio: According to me, this is the most import part of the website and which displays all the projects I worked on (websites developments, scripts and other programs needed). While still under development while I write those words, I want to bring great attention to it.
  • Contact: The obvious, social media links and email so people can reach out to me.
  • About: A few words about me and what I do and what I aspire in life

As next steps, I would like to include direct access to my blog. For now, I write exclusively on Dev.to, because of the great community (thank you guys πŸ˜‰). I however believe there is currently no possibilities to integrate Dev.to posts in our personal website. Developing one from scratch seems therefore a great challenge and a good solution (front end, back end, integration to other social networks). But besides that…
This is where I need you. As there is a bunch of seasoned developers and hiring managers here. What would you expect to see as part of a personal website? Is it something important that you would check before hiring a developer? If so, what would, in the most concise way, would convince you of interviewing/hiring the candidate?

Please let me know your thoughts. I know that as a recent graduate from a bootcamp, a lot of developers would be interested by your point of view.

Top comments (4)

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rdumais profile image
Ryan

One theory that I always had with a portfolio website is that most (if not all) information should be on a single page unless you have 20+ projects you'd like to show.

I believe you have the 4 required sections of a portfolio, however separating sections into different pages seems silly because you are forcing the user to navigate through the portfolio. Think about the user experience.

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bechev profile image
Bertrand Chevalier

This is actually a good point. After taking some time to think about it what I will probably do is:

  • once my portfolio page is created and populated, I will set that up as my homepage so people can see the important stuff right away.
  • I will add a link to my email in the navbar for ease of access
  • I will, however, keep the segregation of the pages as is for the rest to keep my easter eggs (that I still cherish for now but that I will probably find lame very soon) but most importantly as if I keep this website on the long term, i want to be able to leverage the current structure to expand on it.

Thanks for the feedback!

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rdumais profile image
Ryan

Anytime Bertrand. I recommend looking up other developer's portfolios and seeing what they are doing. Mine is not the greatest, but maybe you can get some ideas: ryanduma.is/

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bechev profile image
Bertrand Chevalier

Awesome, will do!
Thanks!