Editorial Dev Portfolio
Three deep case studies that read like magazine features — not fifty thumbnail cards
Turns your project list into an editorial portfolio: one positioning line, three narrative case studies, and a typographic reading experience that shows your judgment.
Install it in 3 steps
No sign-up. No CLI tools. Pick your AI, copy one line, paste it over.
Prefer doing it yourself? Buy the skill ($4.99), download the ZIP from your checkout confirmation, unzip it into the directory shown above, restart your AI session — same result. Already bought it? Your AI assistant can download it for you.
What’s inside
One SKILL.md (the playbook) + one starter template. A preview:
Editorial Dev Portfolio
When to use
- Your portfolio is a grid of screenshots with one-line captions and hiring managers bounce off it in seconds
- You did the hard thinking on a project — the trade-offs, the constraints, the dead ends — but none of it shows
- You're applying for senior or staff roles where judgment matters more than output volume
- You have 3–5 strong projects and want them presented as stories, not as a trophy shelf
- A recruiter asked "send me your portfolio" and your GitHub README links don't read like a coherent narrative
Workflow
- Write the positioning line (input: your career so far → output: one-sentence positioning)
Before any layout, state who you are for and what you are best at, in one sentence: the kind of problems you solve, for whom, and how you solve them differently. "I build data pipelines" is a job description; "I turn messy operational data into systems operators trust" is positioning. Everything on the page must earn its place against this line — a project that doesn't support it gets cut, however proud of it you are. - Pick three proof projects (input: full project list → output: 3 selected projects with a reason each)
Three deep stories beat twelve shallow ones. Pick projects that together prove range: different problem types, different constraints, different skills. For each, write one line on why it made the cut — "proves I can ship under a hard deadline," "proves I can simplify a system others overbuilt." If two projects prove the same thing, keep the stronger and cut the other. - Draft each case study as a narrative (input: selected project + your memory of it → output: structured case-study draft)
Each case study follows the same spine: the situation (what existed, who it served), the problem (what was broken or missing, with numbers where you have them), the constraints (time, budget, legacy systems, team size — constraints are what make the story believable), the decisions (what you chose, what you rejected, and why), and the outcome (what changed, measured honestly). Aim for 400–700 words per case study: long enough to show judgment, short enough to actually get read. Write the decisions section first — it's the part only you can write, and it's what senior reviewers read.
Template preview
Editorial Dev Portfolio — Template
Fill in the positioning line first. Every project below must support it, or it gets cut.
Positioning line
{One sentence: the kind of problems you solve, for whom, and how you solve them differently}
Hero subline (optional, one line): {a supporting fact — years, domain, or a single outcome}
Project index
Case study 1: {Project title}
Role: {your role} | Timeline: {dates} | Team: {size / solo} | Stack: {only what mattered}
Situation: {what existed, who it served}
Problem: {what was broken or missing, with numbers where you have them}
