There's often a negative connotation around listing a portfolio website as a project, as if it somehow doesn't count or isn't serious enough. I see it differently. A personal website, when approached thoughtfully, can be one of the more meaningful projects a developer builds. Unlike side projects that run on dummy data and sit untouched after completion, a portfolio serves a real purpose. It represents you, it impacts your career, and it grows alongside you.

I've worked on various projects over time, and honestly, some felt pointless to include in a list. This website is different. It's not only a place to display work; it's a project that reflects how I make design decisions, choose technologies, and think through problems. The details, from the architecture down to small interactions, were intentional. That's what makes it worth including here.

For developers who are trying to land freelance work or an internship and want to build something that strengthens their resume, I think creating a thoughtful personal website is a solid approach. Not one that just lists skills, but one that shows them in practice. A portfolio that demonstrates how you solve problems and make decisions says more than a list of bullet points.

The command palette was inspired by how Apple approaches navigation in macOS. Spotlight makes it easy to find anything on your system without digging through menus, and I wanted that same simplicity here. Press a shortcut, type what you're looking for, and go. The site also includes Omi, an AI assistant that uses retrieval-augmented generation to answer questions about my work and background. Omi was actually my childhood nickname, so it felt fitting to name the assistant after it.

Beyond functionality, I spent time on the typography, spacing, and motion. The animations are kept subtle so they add to the experience rather than distract from it. On the technical side, the codebase uses centralized design tokens, config-driven patterns, and a component structure that keeps things maintainable. Building this was also an opportunity to express some creativity and put care into something that's genuinely mine.

That said, a portfolio shouldn't be your flagship project. What you focus on should reflect the type of engineer you want to become. But I do think every software engineer should have one. It's a space to represent who you are and show how you think, and that's worth the effort.