makerhandle vs a GitHub profile README

What a profile README does well

A GitHub profile README is free, quick and sits exactly where technical reviewers already go. Create a public repository with the same name as your username, add a README.md with some content, and GitHub shows it at the top of your profile, according to GitHub's docs.

Below it you can pin up to six repositories and gists. The rest of the profile, your contribution graph, your repositories and their own READMEs, shows real code and real activity. For a reviewer who wants to read how you write code, nothing beats it.

Where it falls short as a portfolio

The profile is built for people who read repositories. As the one link on a resume, it has gaps:

• Recruiters screen first. Many are not engineers, and a page of repository names, languages and a contribution graph is hard to judge in a few seconds.
• Projects are repositories. A product with a separate frontend, backend and mobile app is three repos with no single page that explains it, and work that is not on GitHub, like a closed-source job or an app store listing, has nowhere obvious to go.
• No room for your role. A forked or team repo does not say which part you built.
• Six pins. Everything else sits in an alphabetical or recently-updated list.
• No address of your own, and no numbers. It always lives on github.com, and GitHub does not show you how many people viewed your profile.

None of that is a flaw in GitHub. It is a code host, not a portfolio.

What a portfolio page adds

makerhandle starts where the profile stops. Each project gets a card on your page and its own case study page with a Markdown write-up, a captioned screenshot gallery, the stack, your role and timeline, highlights and links to the source, a live demo or the App Store and Google Play.

You also get a status for every project (Active, Building, Acquired, On hold, Discontinued), cookie-free analytics, an Open to work badge with a contact button, and on Pro a custom domain for $20 a year. See makerhandle for developers.

Use them together

The best setup is both, linked both ways:

1. Put your portfolio address in your GitHub profile's website field and in the first line of your profile README.
2. On makerhandle, add GitHub to your socials and link each project's Source code to its repository.
3. Keep the README short: who you are, what you are looking for, and three links. Let the portfolio carry the screenshots and stories.

If a project earns money, a revenue badge in its repository README shows verified numbers right on GitHub. For a full checklist of what to include, read what to put in your developer portfolio.

Which should you lead with?

Lead with GitHub when the people reading your application are engineers who will read code, for example open source roles or teams that ask for your GitHub directly.

Lead with a portfolio page on a resume, a LinkedIn profile and anywhere a recruiter or non-technical manager might click first, and let it link to GitHub for anyone who wants to go deeper. Still weighing a hand-built site? See portfolio website builders compared.