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I think developer portfolios lack text

6 points by jonashendel ↗ HN
When I decided to make my portfolio, I started by looking at other developers' portfolios. I saw many fancy websites, with animations and cool visualisations. But one thing always bothered me. Even after viewing the site, I still had no idea who that person was and what their personality was like. I find that a crucial part of a portfolio website. It is important too So when I made my own, I wrote a detailed description for every featured project, some general sentences about me, why I code, how I learn to code, what my ambitions are, and what I am currently working on. On Twitter I got great feedback for this approach. In case you want to take a look at my portfolio, you can find it under:

https://hendel.vercel.app/

5 comments

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jjgreen
I've had a website which hosts my projects (since just after the dawn of the web), it has always been a portfolio (aren't all personal sites?) but implicitly. All of that time I've made a point of never saying anything about myself. First because I don't think anyone would really be interested, secondly because it's none of their business, but mainly because I think the work should speak for itself. So plenty of text, but text which describes the work in question.

Just my take on the portfolio website: sometimes less is more. You want to know more about me? Invite me to an interview :-)

jonashendel
My philosophy is that I want to be upfront with who I am so the person who hires gets to know me a little bit. And I definetly think it is their business. Personality plays a huge role in whether you are a good or a bad fit for the job.
sumanthvepa
Nice approach to a portfolio website. It does explain the rationale behind the projects you worked on. This indeed a good approach.

I think that for many developers, their personal website is the one place where they get to explore their personal taste in web design and software development. This probably explains why the sites are graphic heavy. Putting up text is after all not very challenging to to do.

GuB-42
It is more of a curriculum vitæ (résumé) than a portfolio. A good one, but the spirit is a bit different.

For me, a portfolio is where you show what you are capable of, and a fancy website is part of it. "If you hire me, this is what you can expect me to do for you". If you put a lot of text in your portfolio, it means you are showing off your skills as a writer. Which may be your point, coders with good writing skills are valuable.

philipmjohnson
I created a professional portfolio framework that supports project descriptions and technical essays for precisely this reason: it gives the developer a better opportunity to provide the reader with a sense of who they are:

https://techfolios.github.io/