I’ve been redesigning my portfolio recently, and one thing became very clear to me:
A lot of developer portfolios are built to look nice, but not necessarily to help visitors understand what we actually do.
For a long time, I treated my portfolio like a place to put:
My tech stack
some projects
a bit about me
contact links
But while working on the redesign, I started asking myself a different question:
If someone lands on my site, will they immediately understand how I can help them?
That changed how I started thinking about the whole site.
I’m a full-stack developer, and over the years, I’ve worked on web apps, mobile apps, backend systems, hospitality software, booking engines, admin panels, and product ideas of my own.
The problem is, when you do many things, it becomes easy for your portfolio to feel scattered.
You know your work.
You know the effort behind each project.
You know the technical decisions, the tradeoffs, the debugging, the late changes, the small wins.
But the person visiting your site does not know any of that.
They just want quick answers:
Who are you?
What do you build?
Have you built something similar before?
Can you actually help with my project?
That’s what I’m trying to improve now.
Instead of making the site feel like a resume, I want it to feel more like a clear and honest introduction to my work.
I want the site to show:
What I build
The type of businesses I can help
the kind of problems I’ve solved
and the best way for someone to reach out if they have an idea or a project
I’m also trying to make it more personal.
Not “personal” in the sense of adding random details, but personal in the sense that the site should actually feel like me:
someone who likes building practical products, solving real business problems, and creating software that is useful, maintainable, and scalable.
I’m also exploring adding a guided chatbot/lead form to the site so visitors can describe what they need, explore relevant services or projects, and contact me more easily.
That feels much closer to what I want the portfolio to do:
not just exist, but actually start conversations.
This redesign has reminded me that a portfolio is not only about showing work.
It is also about making your work understandable.
Still a work in progress, but I’m enjoying the process.
What’s one thing you think most developer portfolios get wrong?
Portfolio: https://manthanbhatt.dev/
