{
  "title": "Why I'm Turning My Personal Blog into a Portfolio in the AI Era",
  "description": "In an age where AI can build almost anything, it's becoming more important to show 'how you think' rather than just 'what you built.' I'll explain why I'm growing my personal blog as a portfolio.",
  "locale": "en",
  "slug": "ai-era-portfolio-blog",
  "url": "https://engineer-blog.tomoki-ttttt.workers.dev/en/articles/ai-era-portfolio-blog/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-28T23:00:00.000Z",
  "tags": [
    "Portfolio",
    "IndieDev",
    "AI",
    "Blogging"
  ],
  "projectIds": [
    "tech-blog"
  ],
  "markdown": "Recently, I've been thinking about growing my personal blog into a form that can also serve as a portfolio.\n\nWhen you hear the term \"portfolio site,\" you might imagine a place where you list your projects, mention the technologies you can use, and post a self-introduction. Those are certainly important.\n\nHowever, I feel that the meaning of creating a portfolio site is shifting in today's world.\n\nWith AI, the visual aspects of websites and applications can now be created quite easily.\nStylish designs, lengthy code, self-introduction pages—these things can be made in much less time than before.\n\nBecause of this, a portfolio that simply shows \"I can build this\" might carry less weight than it used to.\n\nNevertheless, I am choosing to turn my personal blog into a portfolio.\n\nThe reason is that I believe what will be important from now on is not just *what* you built, but **with what intent, how you thought about it, and how you built it.**\n\n## Intent Matters More Because We Can Build with AI\n\nAI has significantly lowered the hurdle to giving ideas a physical form.\n\nGenerating ideas.\nCreating UI drafts.\nWriting code.\nPolishing prose.\nFinding the cause of errors.\n\nMany of these tasks can be accelerated considerably with the help of AI.\n\nBut that doesn't mean the \"value of the person making it\" disappears.\n\nOn the contrary, now that almost anyone can build something to a certain level, the next questions asked will be:\n\n* Why are you building it?\n* Why did you choose that technology?\n* Why that specific UI?\n* What did you prioritize, and what did you discard?\n* Which parts did you leave to AI, and where did you make your own judgments?\n* How will you improve it after it's built?\n\nLooking only at the finished product, it's hard to tell whether it was made by AI or how much a human thought about it.\n\nHowever, when the decision-making and trial-and-error behind it are visible, the developer's way of thinking becomes clear.\n\nThe portfolio I want to create is not just a collection of works, but a place like a **log of decision-making.**\n\n## I Want to Convey \"Thinking and Building,\" Not Just \"Building\"\n\nI believe that people looking at a portfolio want to know more than just how the final product looks.\n\nOf course, the visual quality and technical implementation skills are important.\nBut in actual development, being able to explain \"why I did it that way\" is often more crucial.\n\nFor example, do you choose a static configuration focusing on performance?\nDo you prioritize a rich experience and accept some weight?\nHow carefully do you handle accessibility and semantic HTML?\nEven when using AI, how much do you delegate, and where do you take responsibility yourself?\n\nThese judgments reveal a person's values.\n\nI don't want to just say, \"I can use Next.js,\" \"I can write React,\" or \"I can develop with AI.\"\nI want to convey **what I value and what kind of judgments I make while building.**\n\nTo achieve this, I felt that a blog format was more suitable than a traditional portfolio site.\n\n## A Personal Blog Can Preserve Parts Invisible in a Finished Product\n\nThe beauty of a personal blog is that you can record not only the finished product but also your thoughts along the way.\n\nFor example:\n\n* Why did you build that site?\n* What was the initial design?\n* What didn't go well during implementation?\n* What did you improve?\n* Which technology choices were you torn between?\n* How did you use AI?\n* How do you want to grow it in the future?\n\nYou can leave these things as articles.\n\nBackground information like this doesn't come across well through GitHub repositories or finished websites alone.\n\nHowever, by verbalizing them in articles, people can see your way of thinking and your growth process.\n\nThis is meaningful not only for job hunting or showing to companies but also for yourself.\n\nWhat was I thinking in the past?\nWhat did I struggle with, and how did I decide?\nWhere have I grown, and what are my remaining challenges?\n\nBy keeping such records, I believe the core of my identity as a developer will gradually become clearer.\n\n## Showing the Human Side of Judgment precisely Because We Use AI\n\nI don't think there's any need to hide the fact that I use AI.\n\nIn fact, being able to use AI effectively should be one of the important skills in future development.\n\nHowever, there is a difference between using AI and leaving everything to AI without thinking.\n\nEven if you have AI write code, you are the one who ultimately decides whether to adopt that code.\nEven if you use a UI draft from AI, you are the one who considers whether it's truly a good experience for the user.\nEven if you have AI polish your writing, you must confirm for yourself whether your own thoughts are there.\n\nThat's why, in an AI-era portfolio, I believe it's important to show not just the finished product, but **how you face AI and where you place your own judgment.**\n\nI want to make it a place where people don't just say, \"You just made it with AI, right?\" but rather, \"While using AI, you designed it with this intent and improved it with these judgments.\"\n\n## My Portfolio is a Growth Record Rather Than a Collection of Works\n\nIn turning my personal blog into a portfolio, I don't want to just add a profile page or a project results page.\n\nOf course, I will organize my projects and the technologies I use clearly.\nBut beyond that, for each project, I want to record:\n\n* What kind of problem-solving awareness led to its creation?\n* What were the specific points of focus?\n* What did I try technically?\n* What did I fail at?\n* How do I want to improve it in the future?\n\nInstead of just neatly lining up finished products, I want to show the process of them growing, including things that are still in progress.\n\nBy doing so, I believe I can convey not just my current ability, but **how I learn, how I improve, and how I grow as a person.**\n\n## What I Want to Show on This Blog\n\nOn this blog, I plan to gradually organize the websites and apps I am building.\n\nFor example, a travel blog I run personally, an AI-powered travel planning app, improvements to this technical blog itself, performance tuning, accessibility, UI design, and development flows using AI.\n\nI want to write not just introductions to my work, but also the thoughts that went into them, the struggles I had during implementation, and the improvements I made.\n\nI am particularly interested in Web experience, performance, pleasant UI, and growing indie development continuously.\n\nSuch interests and values are hard to convey through a list of skills alone.\n\nThat's why I want to use this blog to convey what kind of things I want to make and from what perspective I approach Web development.\n\n## Conclusion\n\nI think making things will become even easier with AI.\n\nThat's why it becomes important to show **what you think, what you choose, and how you improve**, rather than just showing that you can build.\n\nFor me, turning my personal blog into a portfolio is an initiative for that purpose.\n\nI will make it a place that preserves the way of thinking, trial and error, and the process of growth, rather than just a place to line up finished products.\n\nI want to grow this blog into such a portfolio, little by little."
}