Last year, I built a portfolio site. It worked, it was very simple. I was rather proud of how it looked and how it represented simplicity. At the time I was under-experienced, so I stuck to the basics.
I’ve been a musician for years, and I’ve seen my fair share of people “overplaying”. As you improve, it’s tempting to add more and more flair — until you realise it doesn’t actually make the thing better. Despite priding myself on my musical simplicity, I went through a similar phase of "overengineering" in my software journey. I thought if I made my portfolio more impressive, more animated, and more complex, it would automatically be better. That’s why I made a second one.
The Second Version
A few months ago, I rebuilt it. It was a far more complex, featuring a timeline of my projects and my CV. I was proud of it. I had learned a lot since the first version, and I was excited to show it off.
I thought it was cool. It was clean, it would fade-in and could change to dark-mode. I put in the time and it felt like something I could show off.
Growth Mindset
Having a growth mindset means being able to step back and honestly evaluate your work — even the things you're proud of.
It's easy to fall in love with our own code, our own cleverness. But progress often starts with letting go of what felt “finished” and admitting it might not be.
So I'm calling this version of my portfolio done-ish. Not perfect, but live. Good enough to grow with me.
The Fourth Version
Yeah thats right! I redid my portfolio and was still unhappy with it! So I redid it again. I will always redo it. It will never be done.
I'm trying not to hold it too tightly, because I truly believe that comfort is the enemy of growth. I think I will be a better software engineer if I keep innovating, getting better, scrapping code and learning from the previous mistakes. And at the end of the day, come back to where I started: simplicity.
What Comes Next
I'm using this site as more than a portfolio. It's a place to:
- Write about projects I've worked on
- Share things I'm learning
- Capture the evolution of my work over time
I don't have a strict content plan. Some posts might be technical deep-dives, others more reflective like this one. But the goal is simple: keep learning in public.
Fail fast, fail often.
Thanks for reading — and if you're also somewhere in that space between “this isn't perfect” and “but I made it anyway”… same.