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16 Comments

Are personal sites still a thing?

I am trying to gauge if developers, students, etc are still creating personal portfolio sites or if they've delegated that all to Linkedin. I saw about 20 resumes from top students and none included a personal site, only a Linkedin. Is there a point to them? Do people still make them?

  1. 2

    Yes, I'd say it's more critical than ever before. It's your personal brand.

    As a hiring manager, I always checked out developers personal sites and github accounts. I looked for side projects, open source contributes, blog posts, etc. Anything that gave me a peak into the candidates world, provided more evidence of skill, also showed me they were driven.

    Candidates who had a great web site, which showcased their skills and determination always got bumped to the top of list!

  2. 1

    Yep. https://mattfarley.ca. Definitely not the same level as Bruno Simon, but it suits my needs and is a good reflection of my values as a designer.

  3. 1

    I made a personal site for devs, https://stringify.me

    Small suggestion, if you want to build for personal site app also include an option to have a simple blog platform along with that. With only profile sites its a tough market.
    Have a look at https://Carrd.co Carrd.co is making around 30k/month and very popular for simple sites. Also have a look at https://About.me sometime back it was valued in millions.

  4. 1

    I keep a personal blog site over at https://devan.codes

    It has proven useful over the years - got plenty of contacts in the industry via my posts on there, and been offered contracts and jobs from people who have seen it too.

  5. 1

    I'm not convinced it's an absolute necessity for developers, but I certainly see it as a good sign when I'm looking at resumes. I see it as one of the last things from the early web where creativity came before polish. Now we live in a world of shopify stores and squarespace sites. http://andrew.moe is mine if anyone if interested.

  6. 1

    Absolutely. I’ve kept a personal site for over 15 years. Been crucial in personal branding. That’s crazy, considering I’m 30.

  7. 1

    I just finished V2 of mine a few weeks ago. For me, I built one because

    • It's a fun way to grow my frontend and design skills and show my personality
    • I want to start writing a lot more (I have 30+ posts in the backlog so far)
    • I needed a place to list my amateur motorsport certifications and experience so I could give out a link instead of listing or poorly summarizing it all for every track day I want to attend and/or teach at.
    • Represent myself professionally outside of social media.
    • Serve as a mini CV. I can tell stories about each project I've worked on rather than summarizing them into one line on a resume.

    I wouldn't say it is necessary at all for people that are job searching, but it probably does increase your chances of getting an interview. I really think it all comes down to how you plan to use it and what you want to get out of it.

    I do have a LinkedIn profile that I keep updated, but every single message I get on there is basically spam. You really have to try hard to network your way around the site to get anything useful IMO. It's a minefield of voracious recruiters.

    1. 1

      Nice site! Really clean design. I'll definitely be using it for inspiration on my own site soon.

      1. 1

        Thanks! I hope it helps 😁

        I highly recommend the Refactoring UI book. It helped me get a handle on the parts of design that can get overwhelming quite fast.

  8. 1

    I've got one - though, I don't really use it as a portfolio site. I just jot down random ideas and every now and then I host some small bit of JS or HTML there.

  9. 1

    Annecdata: I sure do!

    As a frontend developer I personally expect it when interviewing (either side of the table).

    It’s the equivalent of a business card in my mind...

  10. 1

    I think to have a own site is always a good thing. Linkedin is not yours, every other platform is not yours, your site is. My 2 cents

  11. 1

    I think they are pretty common for front end developers at least. As a front end dev, I see a personal site as one of the best ways to market myself outside of the constraints of client work.

    Lots of examples of personal site here https://personalsit.es

  12. 6

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

    1. 1

      Wow, that's a nice site.

    2. 1

      Wow 😮 That's the best personal / interactive site I've ever seen! 👏

    3. 1

      Wow, that's an insane personal site! I was happy the other day getting things to fade in as you scroll down the page lol

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