Hiring new software engineers is challenging. Even if someone can ace a data structures and algorithms question, they may need help understanding how to build websites and apps. For potential software engineers to show they have the required skills for a position, they need examples of projects that solve real-world problems. To display these projects, engineers need a portfolio website.
Portfolio websites are great for new and established software engineers as they accomplish two main things:
1. First, they display the projects you have built and offer a platform that describes projects to non-technical hiring managers.
2. Second, they demonstrate basic DevOps skills for hosting static websites, which is always a plus.
Portfolios help display experiences and abilities but can cost money to maintain. Cost doesn’t have to be an obstacle. Let’s look at how to host your software engineering portfolio website for free.
The (Potential) Cost of Hosting
A major drawback of having a portfolio website is the potential cost associated with managing it. You may purchase two items for a portfolio website: a custom domain name and web hosting.
Custom domain names allow you to specify the URL that users enter to access your website. These can be a great way to build a personal brand and assure users that they are going to the proper website.
To get a domain name, you will need to purchase it through a registrar like domain.com or domains.google. Forbes noted that this costs you about $10 to $20 annually.
Once you have a custom URL for users to enter, you need a server that stores and serves your portfolio website’s web pages.
Enter web hosting.
Web hosting is costlier than buying a custom domain.
Hosting options include shared hosting, WordPress hosting, virtual private servers, and cloud web hosting. You can use shared hosting for a static portfolio website because you shouldn’t see high traffic. Shopify says even the most basic plan will cost between $5 and $20 monthly.
The total annual costs for managing a portfolio website could easily exceed $70. Is there a cheaper way to display your skills to potential employers?
Hosting for Free
If you don’t want to pay for a domain and hosting, GitHub has a free option. Knowing it is a requisite skill for any software engineer, so you are (hopefully) already pushing all your project progress updates to your GitHub account. With your account already set up and in use, you should be ready to start using GitHub’s free hosting option: GitHub Pages.
If you want an excellent step-by-step setup of your website, GitHub Pages has fantastic documentation. All you need to know is that GitHub Pages uses your already existing repositories to be able to create live websites for your projects.
Each project repository has its URL formatted as https://<username>.github.io. An important thing to remember is that you only get one GitHub Pages site per username, so you cannot use it to host your projects if you want to host your portfolio.
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Getting Started Coding
If you are not at the point of being a professional developer but are interested in software engineering, you should check out a bootcamp. There are many options for bootcamps, but Thinkful will give you a full-stack education in around five months. Along the way, you will build multiple portfolio-level projects as you progress through the assignments. These are the perfect additions to your portfolio website once you are ready to start looking for your first software job!