Building your developer profile

Your developer profile is your professional identity on daily.dev. For Career Mode, a complete profile dramatically improves matching accuracy and helps employers understand your background when you approve an opportunity.

Why your profile matters

A complete profile helps Career Mode:

• Match you more accurately with relevant opportunities
• Showcase your expertise to employers when you express interest
• Demonstrate your career trajectory and growth
• Highlight unique experiences that make you stand out

Accessing your career profile

1. Click on your profile picture
2. Select Profile (or go directly to your public profile)
3. Scroll to the Career section
4. Click Edit on any subsection to add or modify information

Open Career Profile Settings →

Work experience

Your work history shows employers your career progression, the types of problems you've solved, and the environments you've thrived in.

Adding work experience

1. Go to your profile's Career section
2. Click Add Work Experience
3. Fill in the required information:
   • Company name
   • Job title
   • Start date (month and year)
   • End date (or check "I currently work here")
   • Location (city, country)
   • Description of your role and achievements

What to include in descriptions

Focus on:

• Key responsibilities and scope
• Technologies you worked with
• Impact and achievements (quantify when possible)
• Team size and structure
• Notable projects or initiatives

Example:

Led backend development for a real-time analytics platform
serving 2M+ daily active users. Built scalable microservices
architecture using Go, PostgreSQL, and Redis. Reduced query
response times by 60% through optimization and caching strategies.
Mentored 3 junior engineers.

Education

Add your formal education background to demonstrate your foundational knowledge and academic achievements.

Adding education

1. Navigate to the Career section
2. Click Add Education
3. Provide details:
   • Institution name
   • Degree type (e.g., Bachelor's, Master's, PhD)
   • Field of study
   • Start and end dates
   • Grade/GPA (optional)
   • Description (optional: honors, relevant coursework, thesis topic)

When to include:

• Relevant degrees in Computer Science, Engineering, or related fields
• Bootcamp or coding school programs
• Relevant coursework even if degree isn't completed

Certifications

Professional certifications demonstrate specialized knowledge and commitment to professional development.

Adding certifications

1. Go to the Career section
2. Click Add Certification
3. Enter:
   • Certification name
   • Issuing organization
   • Issue date
   • Expiration date (if applicable)
   • Credential ID (optional)
   • Credential URL (optional link to verify)

Valuable certifications to include:

• Cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure)
• Security (CISSP, CEH, Security+)
• Kubernetes (CKA, CKAD)
• Specific technologies (MongoDB, Redis, etc.)
• Professional certifications (PMP, ITIL)

Open source contributions

Open source work is highly valued by many employers. It demonstrates your ability to collaborate, code quality, and passion for building.

Adding open source projects

1. Navigate to Career section
2. Click Add Open Source
3. Include:
   • Project name
   • Role (contributor, maintainer, creator)
   • Repository URL
   • Description of your contributions
   • Technologies used
   • Duration (start and end dates)

What to highlight:

• Significant features you've built
• Number of contributions (PRs, commits)
• Maintainer or core contributor status
• Community impact (stars, forks, downloads)

Example:

Core contributor to [Project Name], a popular CLI tool for
developers (15k+ GitHub stars). Implemented async processing
engine, reducing operation time by 40%. Merged 50+ PRs,
reviewed 100+ community contributions.

Side projects

Personal projects show initiative, learning ability, and passion for building beyond your day job.

Adding projects

1. Go to Career section
2. Click Add Project
3. Provide:
   • Project name
   • Project URL (if deployed/public)
   • Description and purpose
   • Technologies used
   • Duration
   • Your role (if collaborative)

Projects worth including:

• Apps or services you've built and deployed
• Tools that solve real problems
• Experiments with new technologies
• Popular projects (users, GitHub stars, etc.)

Example:

Built DevMetrics, a dashboard for tracking developer productivity
metrics across GitHub, Jira, and Slack. 500+ active users.
Built with Next.js, PostgreSQL, and GitHub API. Generates
automated weekly insights and visualizations.

Academic papers

If you've published research, include it to demonstrate deep expertise and analytical capabilities.

Adding publications

1. Navigate to Career section
2. Click Add Publication
3. Enter:
   • Paper title
   • Publication venue (conference, journal)
   • Publication date
   • Authors (list all co-authors)
   • URL or DOI (link to the paper)
   • Abstract or description

When to include:

• Peer-reviewed academic papers
• Conference presentations
• Technical whitepapers
• Research blog posts with significant impact

Volunteering

Volunteer work demonstrates values, leadership, and commitment to causes beyond work.

Adding volunteer experience

1. Go to Career section
2. Click Add Volunteering
3. Provide:
   • Organization name
   • Role
   • Cause or focus area
   • Duration
   • Description of what you did

Examples:

• Teaching coding to underrepresented groups
• Mentoring junior developers
• Contributing to non-profit tech projects
• Organizing community tech events

Profile completion tips

Prioritize quality over quantity

Focus on:

• Recent and relevant experiences (last 5-10 years typically most important)
• Significant achievements rather than every minor role
• Unique experiences that differentiate you

Keep it current

• Update your profile when you gain new skills or experiences
• Remove outdated information that no longer represents you
• Refresh descriptions to reflect current terminology and practices

Be specific and concrete

• Use numbers and metrics where possible
• Name specific technologies, not generic terms
• Describe actual impact, not just responsibilities

Proofread everything

• Check for typos and grammatical errors
• Ensure consistency in formatting and tone
• Verify dates are accurate

Profile visibility

Your enhanced profile is part of your public daily.dev presence. However, remember:

• Employers cannot search or browse developer profiles
• Your profile is only shared when you approve a specific job opportunity
• You control what information you include

Learn more about privacy and trust

Next steps

• Configure job preferences to specify what you're looking for
• Learn how matching works to understand the algorithm
• Review opportunities when you receive your first match