brettjosephowers.com

Purpose

Built a personal portfolio site to present work experience, projects, and contact information as a traditional CV. This was the first version of the personal brand online presence that eventually became brettowers.com. The domain, the layout, the content — all of it was a first draft of the digital identity that would evolve over years.

Stack

What I Learned

• Owning your name as a domain is one of the highest-ROI decisions a developer can make. Domains cost $12/year. A personal site that ranks #1 for your name is worth more than any resume — it is the first thing a recruiter, client, or collaborator sees when they search for you. If you do not control that first impression, someone else does.
• A CV portfolio site is the simplest useful website you can build: name, title, experience, projects, contact. No database, no auth, no dynamic content. It is a static page with good typography and clear information hierarchy. This simplicity is a feature — it loads fast, indexes well, and communicates competence through clarity, not complexity.
• The evolution from brettjosephowers.com to brettowers.com mirrors the evolution from "developer with a resume" to "builder with a brand." The first site said "here is my work history." The current site says "here is my ecosystem." The content changed because the identity changed — from employee to creator.
• Every version of your portfolio teaches you something about self-presentation. What to include, what to cut, how to describe projects, how to balance technical detail with accessibility. The first version is always too long, too detailed, and too focused on technology instead of outcomes. Each revision gets tighter.

Key Insights

• A personal website is not a vanity project — it is infrastructure. In the age of AI-assisted hiring, your website is the richest, most controllable signal about who you are. LinkedIn is a template. Your website is your canvas. The developers who invest in their online presence are not the most narcissistic — they are the most strategic.
• The domain evolution (brettjosephowers.com → brettowers.com) is a branding lesson: shorter is better, easier to remember, easier to type, easier to share. If your full name is available as a .com, buy it. If not, find the shortest variant that is clearly you. Domain names are cheap. Brand clarity is not.
• Portfolio sites have a lifecycle: v1 is a resume (static, backward-looking, lists credentials). v2 is a showcase (project galleries, case studies, demonstrates skill). v3 is a hub (connects to an ecosystem, points to other properties, has ongoing content). brettowers.com is in v3 — it is not a resume, it is the central node of the Potatuhs network. Most developers never get past v1 because they treat the portfolio as a one-time project instead of a living system.
• For SEO, the earlier you establish your name on a domain you own, the more authority that domain accumulates over time. Google rewards domain age, consistent content, and inbound links. brettjosephowers.com was the seed. brettowers.com is the tree. The years of existence, the backlinks from projects and publications, and the growing content library all compound. Starting early matters more than starting perfectly.