Ask HN: What are some resume/portfolio style webpages you like? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What are some resume/portfolio style webpages you like?

14 pointskqr16 comments

I am starting to think more and more that I should maintain my resume on the web rather than with desktop publishing tools, simply because of its dynamic nature. However, I'm also a firm believer that when choosing a medium, you should take full advantage of it and not just translate things over with no consideration for the differences. In other words, what neat things can you do with an HTML resume that you can't with a PDF?

Things I have thought of:

- Update it frequently - Conveniently link to projects - Make it small-screen responsive - Serve plaintext when curling it - Provide details on demand

Things you lose:

- Control over typography - Ensuring it fits neatly on a printed page

Any more tips for inspiration?

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As tomahony has pointed out, a resume is different from a portfolio. If you are thinking resume only, I'd make it available online as a pdf file - nothing more: simply adding HTML markup is not likely to make a difference or impress. Besides, maintaining the 'source content' elsewhere (desktop, google docs, etc.) and uploading a new pdf file each time you have a change is easier, more efficient and avoids duplication (you'll need it as a pdf regardless).

If you want to showcase your coding (HTML, etc..) skills, I second what others suggest: make an online portfolio, or add your projects to your personal website. Check online - there are lots you can use for inspiration. I'm mostly back-end, so mine is minimalist: http://icode4.fun/projects .

A portfolio page is very different to a resume page. Your portfolio is your professional landing page. It might include a blog, relevant profile links, recent projects etc.. A resume _could_ be a part of this, but it's only one part of many. A portfolio is generally intended to drive traffic. For example, if you begin blogging about a particular technology, you can expect to start getting traffic from people searching that technology. This might lead to recruitement and inquiries. You will generally want to it show first on Google when someone searches your name.

If you just want a single-page resume, you don't need to do anything as fancy. Create an index.html and get a nice clean stylesheet to format it. Host it for free on S3 and off you go. I wouldn't overthink the "features". Who is going to CURL your resume?

For reference, I have a pretty active portfolio site that receives a lot of traffic via the blog from Google:

- https://timmyomahony.com

Thank you for your comments. I'm a bit undecided as to what the purpose of the site I'm planning is. Part resume, yes, but also sort of a business card, with links to my things in a central place.

Yours is a very appealing site. Thank you for sharing.

If you're a (junior) front-end developer, then use the website to show off your skills. In other words make it responsive, accessible, use js libraries _when it makes sense to do so_, maybe some visual bling (background effects, scroll snap, a nice design). Https obviously, clean css, small page size, must load quickly.

The reason I'm recommending this: I recently looked for a junior web developer, in the zero-to-little experience range (combined work & school curriculum). I received more than 50 CVs, all stating that they were fluent in HTML/CSS/js. Less than 10 of these had personal web page links. I looked at all of these web pages, and they were a big factor in who got an interview. Off the top of my head, I don't think we interviewed a single person who didn't have a personal resume/portfolio webpage, because we already had a pool of candidates who demonstrated that they had an actual practical experience of building a web site.

All the things you mention are boxes I intend to tick. But I'm not really interested in junior web dev roles; I'm more of an algorithms kind of a person. The reason for making a good web page is more to indicate that I am as much of an allrounder as I say, that I attention to details, and that I care about communication.

I agree that it’s (mostly ?) about signaling. I mentioned the junior web dev profiles because it happened a few weeks ago and because this is precisely a situation (lots of candidates, little to no priors to judge on, similar profiles / education) in which signaling plays an important role.

A personal website is interesting in that there are many dimensions on which you can show your attention to details, from design to hosting.

I have a personal site at https://www.milanmotavar.com.

The site showcase's my skills and interests in highly organized manner.

My suggestion to you is to keep your portfolio site structured and easy to navigate.

One thing I do with my online resume is tweak/customize my resume to the job rec and then use zeit.co/blog/new-static-deployments or surge.sh to deploy a static site with a custom/creative url. Additionally, if there's a take-home assignment/challenge, I just deploy the take-home challenge alongside my resume. Feedback has been positive.

This is ingenious. Absolutely takes the prize. Thank you!

I'm a developer who is mostly back-end and created this minimal website with a simple CSS framework (http://getskeleton.com/) at http://jryan.io

I'm no web dev so I have no idea how it looks but it looks okay to me.

If I need to print it I just "Print to PDF" and it looks good, so best of both worlds imo.

Perhaps it depends on the market, because often you will just need a plain CV/Resume. However, there are recruiters/companies who stumble on your personal website (e.g. http://iamliesa.com is my partner's website about content marketing) and if it is attractive, it already convinces them to take the next step and contact you.

- Control over typography - Ensuring it fits neatly on a printed page

CSS gives you a huge amount of control over both of these things.

Compared to desktop publishing software? Would not say so.

No intention of diminishing the great things about modern CSS, just stating it for what it is.

Most recruiters still need your CV/Resume in a PDF or Word doc so it can be scanned by their software.

This is mine [https://code-designs.co.uk/] it's fairly minimalist with a single typeface so the focus is on the content not the design.

Interesting choice of aesthetic. Are you not worried it will look unstructured to the first time visitor?

I do mine in Google Docs. Editable via the web and I can download as Word or PDF.

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