Setting Up a Programmer Portfolio/Developer Blog – How To Get Started

Key Takeaways

Hey, what's up folks? Stan Bader here and uh I want to talk about one of the best things you could do for your career as a software developer because um I uh actually just came back um from Pyon Germany and um I had a conversation with a Django developer named Astrid and Astrid was really struggling with finding new contract work or basically finding um new gigs and finding better clients. So Astra was a freelance Django developer and she was really struggling with that problem and so you know we kind of talked about this stuff over lunch and I went into full-on unsolicited advice diagnosing mode um and uh we we chatted about this problem. I was tr um what was making it so hard for her to find work in this space and eventually I found out that she didn't have a website. Um, and now I think that is a huge mistake, right? Um, and luckily it's it's one that is relatively easy to fix. But I think for any developer who's looking to improve their career and just kind of improve their chances at um, finding better work or finding better clients or finding a better job or um, you know, even just kind of having more influence and a bigger say in the community, starting a website is the most important thing you could do. I think and um you know I've got my website here as an example and um the reason I have that open is um because I want to show you how I got started. Um so this is what the website looks right now um in uh late 2016 and I actually started debater.org or in uh 2012 and I I just went back to um one of the first commits where I had launched the site and I I just uh spun that app up again so I can show you what my site looked like back then. And the reason I'm showing you this is so that you can see that it doesn't take much to get started with your own uh website as a programming portfolio or um you know even just to get your voice out there and um it it's it's all about these humble beginnings, right? And I was talking about this when um when I shared Astrid's story on my newsletter and then some people got back to me and we had a a conversation about this and they said, "You know what? I I know this makes sense. I should really start a website, but it's so freaking hard to get started. And um it it looks like it would need, you know, so much content. And by the way, I don't think I have a lot of content um on my site compared to some other people. But um I that's why I figured it makes sense to go back all the way when I just launched my site just to show you how I got started and how this stuff can grow, right? You never want to go and like compare what you're about to do with someone who has been doing this for a while. Like this is always going to be frustrating, right? So, um if anything, this is what you should be aiming for. You know, aim for something better, but this is how I got started. Um and um so I launched this site with with a very very simple structure. you know, I basically only had um my blog uh list of articles and this was also the landing page, a very simple about page. Um it was just a quick blurb and and link to my Twitter and that was essentially it. You know, some contact information. That was essentially it. So, when you went to debater.org, you would you would land here on this blog list. And the reason why I have these, you know, relatively massive giant font size is because I only had two articles when I launched this. And um I wanted it to at least, you know, fill the screen and and look somewhat impressive. Like I didn't just want to have like two little bullet points that said, you know, spellchecking latte documents with a spell. Um and so this is how I started out. And then when you click those, you know, I had images and it it it wasn't a lot of content there. Um, it, you know, you could argue about the formatting not being perfect and everything, but but this is how I got started. Like, this is how I launched with these two articles that I wrote and was hanging out with my parents um over the holidays one year and this is how I got started. So it doesn't take much to get started and it can grow you know because once you have you have the basics there you can start growing this and you can start adding more content and maybe you want to start your own mailing list. Maybe you want to start um you know doing things like I'm doing now like offering screencasts or add a proper landing page that kind of introduces you and and what your angle is on this stuff, you know, and maybe you want to start offering some products. But it all starts with going out there and publishing one tiny article, right? That's not a super long article. Like check out this other one. I mean, you know, nobody really cares about Latex and Apel, but it still gets some traffic and it got some traffic back then. It was just absolutely amazing um seeing people actually use the site. So, I think starting a blog is one of the best things I ever did for my programming career and um I would really really encourage you to do the same thing. like get into writing, start putting yourself out there and it can really grow into something that um you know personally I get so much joy from my site and I got so many opportunities from working together with other people and also having it as a portfolio of sorts where um I got better jobs through that. I get contacted from people who are not just the standard recruiters you would get for link from LinkedIn but actual people who read your stuff who are a little bit familiar with your with your content and kind of your angle towards programming. And if you can get started with this do it absolutely do it. Would really really encourage you to do this. Um, I I want to talk more about this in the future and how you can start your own uh website or blog or programming portfolio because I think it's such a super super important topic. So, um, be sure to subscribe or sign up for my newsletter where I'm also going to be talking about this stuff. And, uh, yeah, let me know if you have any more questions. Cool.