One of the greatest learning experiences following my graduation from the Flatiron School was building my portfolio site from scratch rather than using a personalized landing page and templates. Since I had recently developed my React-Redux portfolio project, I figured that it would be an incredible opportunity showcase my skills and increase my proficiency with the React framework. It was certainly ambitious considering that it would be the first project outside of the curriculum and a similar production scale. After buying the domain, I wasn’t sure how to begin the development process so I first mapped out the structure of my portfolio site on paper before creating any of the initial components. I also researched different features to gain an understanding of what fonts and themes could work.
Originally my home page had links to my resume and portfolio projects after the header that would be hosted on one page instead of existing in separate components. I also had an About page that hosted my bio and contact information. I think the biggest issue with this format was that it didn’t capture what I’ve accomplished as a Full Stack Developer. It’s not just about making sure that all the requirements are checked off, but also going beyond that in the structure, design, and performance of your applications. Instead of having my bio on the about page, I moved that part to the home page and created exclusive links for Portfolio, Resume, and Blog in the navigation bar. Since the home page now only hosted my bio, I figured that a great addition would be to add the social media icons, some of the languages and frameworks that I specialize in, and a component that would display my hobbies outside of software development.
During the time that I was developing my portfolio site, I wanted to publish it quickly enough to get the job search moving, but there are some elements that I never integrated. One of the biggest problems is the lack of a responsive menu and a contact form. When you go to view my portfolio site on a mobile device, the structure and positioning of content and several components make it difficult to navigate and read through. As for the Contact form that would go directly to my email, it was something that I had set up when I purchased the domain, but couldn’t successfully build on time. In January, I’ve created some goals to improve my portfolio site from both a user and a software engineer perspective. Given my more enhanced experience of React and Javascript since developing my site, I’m very excited about the features that I will be implementing and revitalizing.