How to nail your web developer portfolio

As a web developer, you know that websites have become the digital equivalent of storefronts. Like a beautifully decorated window display, a visually pleasing and intuitive site makes visitors want to step inside.

Your portfolio is your storefront. Reflecting your skills and your personality, your portfolio will become your best ally in standing out to a client or recruiter and making them want to start or extend an experience with you.

Here are a few tips to guide you in crafting the perfect portfolio for you.

First, why build a portfolio?

Think of your portfolio as the added value you'll bring to your application.

Building a portfolio is your chance to put yourself forward, to show your skills and your personality in a way that's all your own and that breaks away from the classic constraints of the traditional CV and cover letter.

Whether you're a freelance developer or attached to a company, looking for a job or for clients, your portfolio will be a personalized tool that proves your know-how.

In short, your web developer portfolio will make you identifiable, distinguishable, and memorable.

How do you nail your portfolio?

A few simple rules to keep in mind when building your portfolio. You're a web developer, you love what you do, and you're good at it: show it.

Authenticity, passion, and expertise are the watchwords for building your portfolio.

Shape your portfolio in your image

We've been saying it from the start of this article: you need to shape your portfolio. There's no formula for the perfect web developer portfolio — it's up to you to find the source of what makes you unique.

Our first tip is to enjoy yourself building your portfolio. Be creative in its form, and adapt it to what you love doing.

For example, the portfolio of Robby Leonardi, a video game enthusiast, features a visual identity directly inspired by the developer's personality. Original and authentic, this portfolio has everything to spark a recruiter's or client's curiosity.

Build the portfolio that looks like you, that reflects your aspirations, your know-how, and your personality. Don't hesitate to include a storytelling dimension, to make yourself known for who you are and to make people want to keep discovering what you can do.

Tailor your portfolio to the recruiter or client you're trying to win over

Even if your portfolio lets you put yourself forward in a unique, personal way, it's still primarily a recruiting tool. So your portfolio should be tailored to the job offer or client request you're trying to land.

We recommend you prioritize the content you display in your portfolio so as to truly highlight what corresponds to the area of expertise you have or are after. Don't hesitate to select a small number of projects, the ones you consider most impactful.

In that vein, the portfolio of Ryan Scherf puts his projects front and center on the home page, which gives a great glimpse of what he can do. In doing so, the developer prioritized the projects you'd imagine to be the most polished and successfully made you want to discover more.

Avoid making your portfolio a simple compilation of unrelated projects, but favor a curated selection of projects instead: those you're proudest of, those that are most polished, those that best reflect your personality, those that will be most relevant to the client…

Use your portfolio to set yourself apart

The two previous tips should already help you apply this third one, but we wanted to insist on the importance of the portfolio as a tool of differentiation: for recruiters or clients, the portfolio helps make a choice.

So letting your personality come through your portfolio and prioritizing your content are a first step to stand out.

But you can also lean on the following elements to prove that you're a unique developer: highlight a particular skill (mastery of a less common programming language, deep expertise in a particular area, etc.) or a personality trait that sets you apart.

For example, Robin Noguier offers an effective portfolio that highlights him through many animations that emphasize his web developer skills. He also organized his pages around a key skill (web SEO, web development, etc.), an approach that can make him a memorable candidate.

Like Alexandre Fuchs, Garden Estúdio manages to stand out, this time through its visual identity. That makes the developer identifiable through its originality and creativity — qualities that can make all the difference.

In the end, your portfolio needs to be memorable. Whether to a client or a recruiter, you need to put yourself forward through your portfolio. And you'll achieve that by being authentic, structured, and original.

Don't forget the must-haves of a developer portfolio

We've said it from the start of this article — the web developer portfolio should be personalized, in the image of its creator. But there are still a few "form" elements you'll need to focus on.

The home page

It's the actual storefront of your portfolio, and therefore of your profile. So you need to pay particular attention to it so it conveys exactly what you want to say.

Ryan Putnam, through his home page, perfectly conveys to the visitor that he's an artist. A nice touch: his "about" page is revealed when you click on his self-portrait. In doing so, the artist-web developer invites us both to linger over his art and to discover the person behind it.

The "about" page

As mentioned, the "about" page is essential to making yourself known. It lets you share your experience, your background, your passions… Develop what drives you, what makes you proud to do your job… In short: help the recruiter, or client, understand you.

Calls to action

These complement the previous two points perfectly: you've won the recruiter over with your home page and your "about" page — now it's essential to make "calls to action" available to them, linking to your CV, your social media, or your contact info.

So Alexandre Fuchs built a site where the "call to action" to contact him is in the page header — a header that follows all the site's movements to stay visible and make it easy to get in touch with the developer.

User experience

We're not telling you anything new here: the user experience is essential to your portfolio being well received by its readers. The more fluid, pleasant, and intuitive it is, the more your portfolio will hit its goal: setting you apart from other candidates by capturing the recruiter's or client's attention.

So even though the animations are impressive, the portfolio of The Office of Ordinary Things doesn't let its user immediately understand the message the developer wants to convey. The images scroll quickly, the colors are very bright, and the text rotates on itself — which hampers the fluidity of the experience and somewhat undermines the developer's presentation.

Domain ownership

This tip is more for freelance developers, but can be useful to anyone wanting to build a portfolio. We strongly recommend owning your site, and therefore buying your domain name. This will reinforce the professionalism of your portfolio.

SEO

Finally, whether you're freelance or part of a group, always think about SEO. The attention you give it will give you visibility with the public, which is never negligible — even when looking for a job.

So pay close attention to keywords, alt text tags, your page's load speed, and the secure HTTPS protocol — all elements that will help you be seen and put your best foot forward in everyone's eyes.