How I Built This Portfolio

A deep dive into the architecture, tech stack, and engineering decisions behind this site.

Overview

This portfolio website is built with enterprise-grade technologies to demonstrate full-stack development capabilities, cloud architecture knowledge, and software engineering best practices.

Rather than using a pre-made template, I built this from scratch to showcase my ability to design and implement production-ready applications using industry-standard tools and frameworks.

Tech Stack

Backend

  • Spring Boot 3.2 - Framework
  • Java 21 - Latest LTS
  • Spring Data JPA - ORM
  • Maven - Build tool

Frontend

  • Thymeleaf - SSR templates
  • Tailwind CSS - Styling
  • Vanilla JavaScript - Interactivity
  • Responsive Design - Mobile-first

Database

  • PostgreSQL 16 - RDBMS
  • Hibernate - JPA provider
  • Docker Compose - Local dev
  • Normalized Schema - Indexing

DevOps & Cloud

  • AWS App Runner - Hosting
  • AWS RDS - Managed DB
  • GitHub Actions - CI/CD
  • Docker - Containerization

Architecture Highlights

MVC Architecture Pattern

Clean separation of concerns with Controllers handling HTTP requests, Services containing business logic, and Repositories managing data persistence. Promotes maintainability and testability.

RESTful API Endpoints

JSON API at /api/* for programmatic access. Enables integration with external systems and demonstrates API design skills.

SEO-Friendly Server-Side Rendering

Thymeleaf templates render HTML on the server for optimal search engine indexing and fast initial page loads. No client-side JavaScript frameworks required for core functionality.

Input Validation & Security

Jakarta Validation annotations ensure data integrity. Form inputs are sanitized to prevent XSS and SQL injection attacks. HTTPS enforced in production.

Comprehensive Testing

JUnit 5 unit tests, MockMvc integration tests, and JaCoCo coverage reports ensure code quality. Target coverage: 70%+. H2 in-memory database for fast test execution.

Why This Stack?

This technology stack demonstrates proficiency with enterprise Java development, which is highly relevant for cloud engineering and technical consulting roles at major consulting firms and Fortune 500 companies.

The architecture follows industry best practices including separation of concerns, dependency injection, transaction management, and RESTful API design - all critical skills for building scalable, maintainable enterprise applications.

API Endpoints

GET /api/projects
Try it →

Returns all projects as JSON

GET /api/projects/{slug}

Returns a single project by slug

GET /actuator/health
Try it →

Health check endpoint for monitoring

View the Source Code

All code is available on GitHub. Feel free to explore the implementation details and see how everything works together.

View on GitHub