Creating Content

If you are not sure how to start adding content to your digital portfolio, you can use your Resume as a starting point. For help with your resume, you can check out the Cornell Career Services Resume Prep Page or the Cornell Engineering Career Services “Build A Better Resume” Guide.

Your Bio

You will likely want to include an “About Me” or “Bio” page. Here you can summarize who you are, what you are working on and what you are interested in.

You could include information on the following:

Once you have your bio, pop it onto your GitHub repository. You can add links in markdown like this:

# John Smith
- Computer Science Major at [Cornell Engineering](https://www.engineering.cornell.edu/). Team Lead at [Cornell App Dev](https://www.cornellappdev.com/ "Cornell App Dev"). Summer 2020 Intern at [Microsoft Research](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/).
- Interested in Natural Language Processing.

# Education

## Cornell University, College of Engineering
_August 2021_  \| Ithaca, NY
- Bachelor of Science, Computer Science \| Minor in Business, Dyson School of Business

John Smith

Education

Cornell University, College of Engineering

August 2021 | Ithaca, NY

Education

In the end, the design and layout of the site is entirely up to you. You might prefer to have a very minimal bio and then link to more information on different pages, or to have your Digital Portfolio with all content on a single, scrollable page.

Here are some example Bios from our Digital Portfolios:

James’s Digital Portfolio

Gaby’s Digital Portfolio

Parker’s Digital Portfolio

Using Your Resume

The advice below is from Cornell Career Services on what should be included in a resume.

Heading

Include name, permanent and local addresses, e-mail address, and phone number. If using two addresses, indicate dates you can be reached at each.

Objective (Optional)

An objective should convey specific information about what you are seeking, but those that are too narrow can limit your options. If you decide to include an objective, specify the type of position you are seeking. If you find it difficult to write a definitive statement of your objective, describe the skills you want to use or the functions you want to perform. As an alternative, you could opt to include a summary of qualifications describing your skills and experience in relation to your career interest. Qualification summaries are less widely used than objectives, but offer the opportunity to highlight your most important assets at the top of your resume.

Education

Here you will list institutions attended and locations, including study abroad experience; degrees and dates received; major and concentration; and honors thesis title, if applicable. Include your GPA if it is at least 3.0; you may want to add your major GPA if it is considerably higher. [Note: Guidelines for science and technical fields may vary. Check with your college career office.] If you attended another college before coming to Cornell, include it only if you make reference to it elsewhere in your resume or cover letter. Don’t include your high school unless it is nationally recognized or in an area where you want to work.

Honors and Awards

You can list Dean’s List, honor societies, and academic awards in a separate section if you have more than one or two entries; if not, incorporate them into the education section. Only include scholarships that are based on merit.

Relevant Courses

List courses that are pertinent to your objective and employers’ needs, particularly if your major does not directly relate to your employment goal. For example, if you are an English major seeking work as a computer programmer, relevant courses will be computer-related.

Experience

This includes diverse experiences, both paid and unpaid, such as part-time or full-time work, co-op experience, internships, volunteer experience, and extracurricular activities. Include the position you held, name of the organization, city and state of its location, and month and year of your involvement. Summarize what you accomplished in each experience and prioritize these results-oriented descriptions to support your job objective. Focus on the experiences you have had that demonstrate that you can succeed in the position you are pursuing. Use brief phrases beginning with action verbs, incorporating statistics, percentages, and numbers where possible.

Skills

List computer languages and programs, knowledge of foreign languages, laboratory and research skills, analytical skills, and management skills that you do not mention elsewhere.

Activities and Interests

In order of their importance, list student organizations, professional associations, committees, and community involvement, indicating offices held. Include high school activities only if they direct relate to your objective. After activities, list interests such as music, sports, and the arts, especially if they pertain to your career interest. You may want to avoid including religious activities or those representing extreme political views.

The above can be found at Cornell Career Services

If we are looking to use our resumes as a starting point for content to add to our Digital Portfolios, the sections Heading, Objective, Education can go in your bio section. Activities and Interests could also go here, or in a separate page with additional information.

For the remainder of the sections, relating to your achievements and experiences, your Digital Portfolio is your chance to expand upon your favourite projects. Create pages showing images, videos of your work and your process or directly publish any interactive work. You can have pages for each of the projects you want to highlight, or group them into categories (e.g. a page for project team work, a page for internship projects).

Next: Adding Projects