Have you been asked to build a portfolio to find a job? One common piece of advice is to push your project’s Github. Even after doing that, you don’t get callbacks from interviews. Why? What’s missing? After all, you are showing the project that you spent a tonne of hours building, banging your head through tutorials and stackoverflow. It should be worth something. Of course, it is worth it. There is just one missing piece—the presentation.

Let’s get this straight no interviewer has time to go through each file in the repo and see how amazing your code is. So you have to provide it to them in a gist.

tl;Dr it all boils down to the Readme file.

Here are the things that you should add to your Readme file and make it stand out

1. What is the project?

Write a small blurb of what your project is and what problem does the project solves.

2. Live link or video demo of the project

A picture is better than a million words. Show them what you built via a live demo.

3. What inspired you to build it?

This adds a personal touch and lets you connect with the consumer.

4. What’s the tech stack? Why did you choose it?

Often in a job, you will have to make tech choices and justify the same. Why not start doing the same for side projects?

5. What features are you implementing? Why?

This is where you can showcase you are more than just a developer.

6. Resources referred

Adding links you referred to shows your researching ability, that you are open to new information, you will seek help rather than being stuck, and more importantly, impart that knowledge to a future team.

7. Learning Log

Learn log is where you log all your learnings every day. I have been doing this since 2016. It shows the path you have traveled. It doesn’t have to be text. It can also be a vlog.

8. Proper commit messages

Proper commit messages show professionalism, show that you are more than just a coder. You care about other people reading the code.

9. How to run the project?

Whenever you do a pet project, assume that someone is going to consume it. The first thing they do is to run your project. Automate the setup as much as possible.

10. How can others contribute to the project?

Being open to contribution shows that you are willing to work with a team. That you’re open to incorporating other’s ideas

It doesn’t matter how big or small your project is. Think of the project as a part of you. To stand out there is only way, showcase your unique self via the project’s readme file.