I am seeing a lot of people/sites claiming personal websites are a must. but does it really impact your career? Should I spend time in making one? please shed your thoughts on this
I do not have a personal site. I've been in the industry software industry 20+ yrs primarily in the Microsoft ecosystem, but not exclusively.
"Impact your career" can involved many things, but I'm reading your question as two-fold:
1) Getting a new job at a new company
2) Moving up at an existing company
For 1, the goal is to show someone that doesn't know you, what your capabilities are, and what you can bring to the table - that can be through various ways, people who say you must have a personal site are really just saying that a personal site is your portfolio that you can show people, but github and others are suitable as well. Here you've got to be able to demonstrate your capabilities - it is easier with a site, or some other publicly accessible form of portfolio (github, etc).
For 2, it is about growing yourself technically and politically and your internally executed work IS your portfolio. Succeed on your executed work and challenge yourself by taking on additional responsibilities where able and the rest will follow. YOU are always your best portfolio.
thanks for replying, I have a GitHub repo that extensively shows my work. however, I do not have a website separately. I feel peer pressure cuz everyone is building a portfolio website. so was curious to know
"Impact your career" can involved many things, but I'm reading your question as two-fold: 1) Getting a new job at a new company 2) Moving up at an existing company
For 1, the goal is to show someone that doesn't know you, what your capabilities are, and what you can bring to the table - that can be through various ways, people who say you must have a personal site are really just saying that a personal site is your portfolio that you can show people, but github and others are suitable as well. Here you've got to be able to demonstrate your capabilities - it is easier with a site, or some other publicly accessible form of portfolio (github, etc).
For 2, it is about growing yourself technically and politically and your internally executed work IS your portfolio. Succeed on your executed work and challenge yourself by taking on additional responsibilities where able and the rest will follow. YOU are always your best portfolio.
HTH