Building My Portfolio: A Fresh Start with Next.js

After ten years in software engineering, I finally built a proper portfolio. Here's why I chose Next.js and what I've learned along the way.

Why Now?

For most of my career, I've been heads-down building products for other companies. My online presence was limited to a LinkedIn profile and occasional Stack Overflow answers. But as I've grown into more senior roles, I've realized the importance of sharing knowledge openly.

The Tech Stack

I wanted something that felt modern but didn't require constant maintenance. After evaluating several options, I landed on:

Next.js 14 with the App Router for its excellent developer experience

Tailwind CSS for rapid styling without fighting CSS specificity

Markdown for blog posts (simple, portable, version-controlled)

Giscus for comments (powered by GitHub Discussions)

Vercel for hosting (zero-config deploys)

Lessons from a Decade of Building

1. Simplicity Wins

The best systems I've built were the simplest ones that solved the problem. This applies to everything from API design to infrastructure choices. With this portfolio, I deliberately avoided a headless CMS, complex build pipelines, or any dependencies I didn't truly need.

2. Ship First, Optimize Later

It's tempting to perfect everything before launch. But I've learned that real feedback from real users is worth more than endless hypothetical optimization. This site went live with placeholder content because done is better than perfect.

3. Write It Down

Documentation, blog posts, decision records — writing forces clarity of thought. I've started treating my blog not just as a public artifact, but as a personal knowledge base.

What's Next

I plan to write about:

Technical deep-dives into Azure services

Career reflections and advice for engineers

Lessons learned from production incidents

Book summaries and learning notes

If you've read this far, thanks for being here. Feel free to leave a comment below or reach out directly.