HN Explorer

Ask HN: Do you have a personal website?

17 points by jonathancai ↗ HN
If yes, please comment the URL :)

Second, does it matter to recruiters/hiring managers? (Speaking mostly for junior SWE and college students like me.)

40 comments

[ 4.6 ms ] story [ 90.3 ms ] thread
jonathancai11
To give some explanation, for my next project, I am thinking about building a quick/easy guide for others to build their own personal website.

But before I get there, I want to validate that this is something that would be actually bring value.

el_dev_hell
> Ask HN: Do you have a personal website?

Sure do. It's a basic blog and my contact details.

> Second, does it matter to recruiters/hiring managers? (Speaking mostly for junior SWE and college students like me.)

It's not critical, but you should get your full name if possible (BobbyRaySmith.com). I track direct hits when I'm job hunting and it's pretty common to get hits from specific cities after an application.

dyingkneepad
I have and last updated it in 2012. I have no idea if anybody ever saw it.

I interviewed many people and never once found someone's website on their CV. I didn't try to find personal websites for them, but I did type their names on ohloh.net and github.

eeegnu
Building my own right now. I detest web development, but wanted a place where I can easily share things with many people with indefinite flexibility. I don't care about it so much as a resume, but I do plan to create some kind of resume 'about' page.

I think it's vital to anyone who wants to do web dev, otherwise I don't think it matters so much for general software development.

psyklic
I highly recommend having one! Based on analytics, I know it has contributed to me getting all of my best job offers, from a PhD position to industry gigs. Interviewers have commented positively on the style (in my case "hackerish") and brought up some of the projects.

Basically, it lets you control what people see when they Google search your name -- and it can give you a professional non-Gmail email too.

Here is mine: http://danwilhelm.com (Unfortunately, I haven't updated it much since college!)

aosaigh
> Basically, it lets you control what people see when they Google search your name

I feel like this is such an overlooked reason for not only having a personal site, but having a LinkedIn, Github, Twitter etc. (even if you don't use them). If you work for yourself in any capacity it helps to try control your search page results.

toto444
Mine is here : https://drdru.github.io/

I am not on the job market but if I was I would use it to show how I am able to makes things simple, explain them to non technical people and focus on the essential.

fuzzygroup
https://fuzzyblog.io/blog/ I don't know if it matters to recruiters but it matters a ton to me. I find that a personal web site gives a place for me to document what I know and that improves my work.
urlaunched
Mine is here: https://urlaunched.com

As for hiring manager, don't think it is too valuable. But it is not so difficult to build the one on Wix, Squarespace, or Tilda. So, if you are planning to have own blog and brand building it worth it.

slmjkdbtl
hi mine is here, https://enemyspy.xyz/

the games up there are almost all scratched projects and I don't know if the links will work, but i still like the icons i drew for them so still haven't took them off yet. try click the flower!

jonathancai11
I really dig it :) flower animation is a neat touch. What did you use to build it btw?
slmjkdbtl
Thanks! Currently it's using mithril.js, but I am considering dropping it and use plain html cuz the page is so simple
miguendes
Yes, started a couple of weeks ago.

I'm using hashnode but previously tried Hugo. I like hashnode better because it has a bunch of nice features and I still own the content.

https://miguendes.me

SkyLinx
I have been blogging at https://vitobotta.com (hosted on my own blogging platform https://www.dynablogger.com) since 2010 about web programming, DevOps and related topics.

I've had many recruiters reach out to me about jobs over the years who found me via my blog. Much more than from LinkedIn I think. So yeah, a personal website which is relevant to your skills and career can help.

fractionalhare
Yes: pseudorandom.com

As far as I can tell, it has not mattered for hiring managers or recruiters. But I also don't really share it with them. It's not intended to be used for promotion. I'm only planning to write one or two articles a year.