Rebuilt My Personal Website
Posted on April 25, 2026 - 3 min read
My old personal website worked. It loaded. It had my name on it. But every time I see it, I don’t feel it belonged to me. And yeah, it didn’t - It was never supposed to.
The old website had one job
I built the old website with intention: to get a job. That’s it, I needed something to say “Hey, I’m an engineer, here my experience and project, hire me and give my some money” nothing more. So my lazy ah arse grabbed a Next.js portofolio website template, threw my info in, and called it a day.
Aaaaand voila, I got the job i told you in the last post. Mission Accomplished. The site was a tool, not and expression and at the same time, that was totally fine
Somethings feels wrong
Once i was employed, the site just… sat there. A polished, generic, template looking “personal” website. Every time I looked at it, something felt off. Not broken, just what meant to be “personal” doesn’t feel personal at all. It could’ve been anyone’s site. A developer in Jakarta, a student in Ohio, a designer in Berlin. No personality. Just clean, inoffensive, totally forgettable page.
Throw the old one out and started over
This time, no template. And a different stack too! I went with Astro instead of Next.js like the old one. I think Astro just made more sense for a personal site. It’s fast, simple, and I’m not building a web app, I’m building a site about me. No need to overcomplicate it.
The new version started with one question: what actually feels like me, yet still looks professional? What reflects the way I think, the things I care about, the vibe I carry around day by day?
I picked colors I actually like. I added little personal touches, the kind of details that make something unique. The goal wasn’t to impress. It was to be recognizable.
Here’s what it looked like and what it looks now:
Before — Next.js + shadcn template
After — Astro, built from scratch see it live
Same person. Very different energy.
About using template
Template aren’t bad. They’re a great starting point, and hey, one literally helped me to land a job. But they’re designed to work for everyone. which kind of defeats the point of a “personal” website.
I think your personal website is one of the few places on the internet where you have full control. Don’t waste it on something that could belong to anyone.
Special Thanks
The project was shaped by some amazing people whose work inspired the look, feel, and voice of this site