How to Create an Effective Portfolio Website
As part of this GameDevHQ program, we are required to create or update our portfolio as a software developer so that prospective employers will be able to see what we can do. After completing my first version, I’ve come up with a few thoughts that I think could be helpful to others.
- Don’t use Wordpress unless you are already familiar with it. There are many websites these days that are much easier to use than standard Wordpress, and this will save you a lot of time. I recommend Wix.com if you aren’t familiar with Wordpress, but really any self-service and free website tool can work.
Website header: I recommend you create a logo that may or may not include an image of yourself that is small enough that it can appear in the upper left of every page. In my case, I have a small pic with my name and title, “Troy A. Lyndon, Developer / Producer”.
Website navigation bar: In the header, I’d recommend you include a link for each of the site pages. Home (Portfolio), Resume, Testimonials (optional), Blog, Contact (optional).
Social Media and Connect icons: On the right hand side of the header, I recommend putting little icons for LinkedIn, eMail (link to open email client), Skype, and Phone (link for an immediate phone call).
Portfolio page: You can be creative here. I created a single paragraph introducing myself, followed by a section for each project. If all you have is the Space Shooter from the GameDevHQ course, use it as your first one. Each project section should have a project Title and Description, and if possible, a screen shot or two. If you want to add a section for Interesting Facts or Publisher or Platform, or Built Using (i.e. Unity 2D), etc.. be creative and detailed so that a prospective employer will understand that you know how to create a game.
Resume page: I recommend this page be a PDF file of your resume embedded in the page, along with a printer icon so that someone can print your resume easily.
Testimonials page: If you can get Jonathan, your team lead or former employers and even friends you’ve worked with to write something about who you are; your character and/or skills, this will help others learn something about you before they meet you. Remember that prospective employers what to know, as Jonathan says, “that your a good guy”. They can teach you skills, but they can’t teach you to be a hard working team member with a good attitude.
Blog page: You can embed your Medium blog directly into this page. There are many ways to do this. Here is a helpful article, although, I’d recommend you read all of the different ways before choosing which one to implement: https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/embed-medium-as-a-blog-on-your-site-54a1b49cbe16
Contact page: This is where you use a form with fields for Name, Email, Message. Be sure to use a captcha to avoid getting spam delivered to you. However, if you don’t want to implement a form or don’t know how, you can simply use the mailto:youremail.com as a link when they click the Contact choice in the navigation bar. But just know, spam will be coming your way.
Backgrounds: You can choose backgrounds available at no-cost online or you can simply find a nice landscape YouTube video you like and have it playing in the background. They look nice and save a lot of time.
Mobile and Desktop versions: Take the necessary time to make it look good on your computer, and on a mobile phone or tablet.
In Summary: Of course, there are many ways to create a portfolio website. This is simply the process I went through to create mine, and I’m hopeful it will be of benefit to you. Be creative, thorough and purposeful when considering each feature you’re thinking to include.
On a Personal Note: This 2D Game Development Course in Unity has been a wonderful opportunity for me. I’ve been an experienced indie game developer, but over the years, I’ve been working on and off, doing other jobs as necessary to make ends meet. As such, I haven’t had enough time to invest in learning Unity. Unity is all-important because more than half the games in the world are made with it. If Jonathan, GameDevHQ and the Economic Alliance of Hawaii did not make this program available to me, it is possible and even likely that my outdated skill set could have prevented me from ever working in the game industry again. Now, I have a chance. For this reason, I am extremely grateful to everyone involved. My only request is that the GameDevHQ program be extended from 6–8 weeks to at least 4 months. This would provide us the necessary time to be fully equipped in using Unity and likely change our future for the better.
To see my portfolio, go to www.troylyndon.biz and know that any constructive criticism is always welcome.
