A beginner’s guide to writing a stunning GitHub profile readme.

GitHub now allows you to add a README to your profile, let’s have a look at how can you make it AWESOME!

Yadvi Bhalla
TheLeanProgrammer
4 min readNov 15, 2020

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I’ve created my readme profile a few days back, this has led me to create this article which will help y’all to make a kickass readme profile. I’ll be discussing aspects which I think are more beneficial in taking your readme to a next level. By just sparing 20–30 minutes in creating a good readme profile might create a high impact in your next job interview. That’s why it’s a good idea to always keep your Github profile not only up to date but also looking amazing.

1. Keep it simple.

Before providing you a list of useful resources to make your readme outstanding, I’d like to talk about this point first. I’ve come across many readme’s and noticed people putting a lot of images, emojis, and gifs to make it as fancy as they can.

Remember, recruiters and visitors want to see your skills and the project, not the gifs and emojis. That doesn’t mean creating a dull and boring readme file either.

Creativity is important, but don’t overdo it.

2. Start with the nice-looking header image.

Adding a header image or a gif can give your readme an awesome start. You could include your name and your current position in it. But how to create your own header. I would suggest canva.com to create a personalized banner or header for your readme. Check it out!

I prefer gifs more than header images, you can include any gif depending on your skills. But make sure not to include more than 2 gifs.

3. Write a short intro about yourself.

I personally feel this is the most important part of your readme profile. Write a short paragraph or bullet points in about 8 to 10 lines describing your skills and achievements. Make sure to keep it professional.

4. Mention your tech stack and skills.

For including tech skills, you can either use badges or icons for technologies. Mentioned below are some of the tools you can use to create badges and icons according to your tech stack.

🔰 https://github.com/alexandresanlim/Badges4-README.md-Profile

🔰 https://github.com/simple-icons/simple-icons#cdn-usage

5. Include stats and language cards.

The next step is to include the statistics and language card. It will make your GitHub profile look more awesome and stunning.

Refer to the below link to include stats in your readme file:

🔰 https://github.com/anuraghazra/github-readme-stats

6. Some useful resources

Now it’s completely your choice what else you want to include to make your readme outstanding from others. I’ve mentioned a list of some useful resources below:

🔰 To include visitors badge:

🔰 Current UTC time:

🔰 Get dynamically generated images from your LinkedIn profile on your GitHub readmes:

🔰 Show your latest Medium article on your readmes:

🔰 Dynamically generated your StackOverflow profile status on your GitHub readmes:

🔰 Random dev jokes in your GitHub README:

🔰 Generate header images for your GitHub profile READMEs with custom content:

What other ideas can you add to this list? Feel free to drop them in comments.

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Yadvi Bhalla
TheLeanProgrammer

RedHat Certified Specialist in Containers and Kubernetes