I Built a Portfolio Like a System, Not a Résumé!

#devchallenge #googleaichallenge #portfolio #gemini

New Year, New You Portfolio Challenge Submission

This is a submission for the New Year, New You Portfolio Challenge Presented by Google AI

About Me

Hi, I’m Lokesh — a frontend-focused web developer with growing full-stack experience.

I don’t learn best by memorizing theory or following tutorials blindly. I learn by building, testing, breaking, and refining real systems.

Over time, I realized that a traditional portfolio page doesn’t truly represent how I think or how I grow as a developer. So instead of creating another résumé-style website, I treated this portfolio as a living system — one that reflects my workflow, my decisions, and my evolution.

This project isn’t about perfection. It’s about process, intention, and progress.

Portfolio

🔗 Live Portfolio (copy-friendly link):
https://lokesh-portfolio-593868443355.us-central1.run.app

👇 Embedded live using Google Cloud Run:

(Note: Deployed to Google Cloud Run with required label: --labels dev-tutorial=devnewyear2026)

How I Built It

This portfolio was planned first, designed with AI, and developed with AI as a collaborator — not as a shortcut.

🎨 Design (Google Stitch AI)

Used Google Stitch AI to explore layout direction, hierarchy, and interaction tone.
Focused on clarity over decoration.
The system-style interface mirrors how I naturally reason through problems.

🧩 Development (Google Antigravity)

Built using Google Antigravity as an AI-assisted development environment.
AI helped with architecture thinking, component structuring, and refactoring.
Every final decision — layout, logic, and behavior — was intentional and human-driven.

⚙️ Stack & Infrastructure

React / Next.js
Framer Motion for subtle interaction feedback
Docker for containerization
Google Cloud Run for deployment:
- Containerized build
- Scale-to-zero when idle
- Free-tier safe configuration
- Production-ready setup

Instead of using many tools, I focused on using fewer tools well.

What I'm Most Proud Of

Treating a portfolio as a system that explains how I think, not just what I’ve built.
Designing with restraint instead of visual overload.
Successfully containerizing and deploying on Google Cloud Run.
Keeping performance, simplicity, and cost under control.
Being honest about my current level while clearly showing growth.

This portfolio reflects how I want to build software going forward: