Hot take: My portfolio site crashed during a big interview with a studio in Seattle

It happened last Tuesday right as I was trying to show my motion graphics project. The whole thing just went blank. I had to scramble and pull up a PDF backup on my phone. Do you think it's better to have a super custom coded site or just use a simple, reliable platform like Squarespace for this stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

jordangibson1mo ago

Honestly, go custom every time. That blank screen sucks, but a Squarespace template just screams "I didn't try." A studio wants to see your skill and style baked into the site itself. A custom site is your first and biggest project in the portfolio. It shows you can build something unique that won't look like ten other applicants. Yeah it might crash, but that's why you test it hard and have a backup plan ready, which you did. Playing it safe with a generic builder might be reliable, but it also makes you blend in.

henderson.hugo1mo ago

Wait, you actually had a backup plan?

daniel_lopez1mo ago

Yeah the "backup plan ready" part is key. I just keep a simple, single page version of my site exported as a PDF. It's ugly but it loads instantly if the main one goes down.