Recently, I’ve been thinking about growing my personal blog into a form that can also serve as a portfolio.

When 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.

However, I feel that the meaning of creating a portfolio site is shifting in today’s world.

With AI, the visual aspects of websites and applications can now be created quite easily. Stylish designs, lengthy code, self-introduction pages—these things can be made in much less time than before.

Because of this, a portfolio that simply shows “I can build this” might carry less weight than it used to.

Nevertheless, I am choosing to turn my personal blog into a portfolio.

The 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.

Intent Matters More Because We Can Build with AI

AI has significantly lowered the hurdle to giving ideas a physical form.

Generating ideas. Creating UI drafts. Writing code. Polishing prose. Finding the cause of errors.

Many of these tasks can be accelerated considerably with the help of AI.

But that doesn’t mean the “value of the person making it” disappears.

On the contrary, now that almost anyone can build something to a certain level, the next questions asked will be:

• Why are you building it?
• Why did you choose that technology?
• Why that specific UI?
• What did you prioritize, and what did you discard?
• Which parts did you leave to AI, and where did you make your own judgments?
• How will you improve it after it’s built?

Looking only at the finished product, it’s hard to tell whether it was made by AI or how much a human thought about it.

However, when the decision-making and trial-and-error behind it are visible, the developer’s way of thinking becomes clear.

The portfolio I want to create is not just a collection of works, but a place like a log of decision-making.

I Want to Convey “Thinking and Building,” Not Just “Building”

I believe that people looking at a portfolio want to know more than just how the final product looks.

Of course, the visual quality and technical implementation skills are important. But in actual development, being able to explain “why I did it that way” is often more crucial.

For example, do you choose a static configuration focusing on performance? Do you prioritize a rich experience and accept some weight? How carefully do you handle accessibility and semantic HTML? Even when using AI, how much do you delegate, and where do you take responsibility yourself?

These judgments reveal a person’s values.

I don’t want to just say, “I can use Next.js,” “I can write React,” or “I can develop with AI.” I want to convey what I value and what kind of judgments I make while building.

To achieve this, I felt that a blog format was more suitable than a traditional portfolio site.

A Personal Blog Can Preserve Parts Invisible in a Finished Product

The beauty of a personal blog is that you can record not only the finished product but also your thoughts along the way.

For example:

• Why did you build that site?
• What was the initial design?
• What didn’t go well during implementation?
• What did you improve?
• Which technology choices were you torn between?
• How did you use AI?
• How do you want to grow it in the future?

You can leave these things as articles.

Background information like this doesn’t come across well through GitHub repositories or finished websites alone.

However, by verbalizing them in articles, people can see your way of thinking and your growth process.

This is meaningful not only for job hunting or showing to companies but also for yourself.

What was I thinking in the past? What did I struggle with, and how did I decide? Where have I grown, and what are my remaining challenges?

By keeping such records, I believe the core of my identity as a developer will gradually become clearer.

Showing the Human Side of Judgment precisely Because We Use AI

I don’t think there’s any need to hide the fact that I use AI.

In fact, being able to use AI effectively should be one of the important skills in future development.

However, there is a difference between using AI and leaving everything to AI without thinking.

Even if you have AI write code, you are the one who ultimately decides whether to adopt that code. Even if you use a UI draft from AI, you are the one who considers whether it’s truly a good experience for the user. Even if you have AI polish your writing, you must confirm for yourself whether your own thoughts are there.

That’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.

I 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.”

My Portfolio is a Growth Record Rather Than a Collection of Works

In turning my personal blog into a portfolio, I don’t want to just add a profile page or a project results page.

Of course, I will organize my projects and the technologies I use clearly. But beyond that, for each project, I want to record:

• What kind of problem-solving awareness led to its creation?
• What were the specific points of focus?
• What did I try technically?
• What did I fail at?
• How do I want to improve it in the future?

Instead of just neatly lining up finished products, I want to show the process of them growing, including things that are still in progress.

By 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.

What I Want to Show on This Blog

On this blog, I plan to gradually organize the websites and apps I am building.

For 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.

I 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.

I am particularly interested in Web experience, performance, pleasant UI, and growing indie development continuously.

Such interests and values are hard to convey through a list of skills alone.

That’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.

Conclusion

I think making things will become even easier with AI.

That’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.

For me, turning my personal blog into a portfolio is an initiative for that purpose.

I 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.

I want to grow this blog into such a portfolio, little by little.