Building Your Portfolio in the AI Age

Workshop Reference Sheet & Pre-Read

quarto

workshop

portfolio

Everything you need before, during, and after the portfolio-building workshop. Pre-read checklist, slides, setup walkthrough, and resources.

Author

Sep Dadsetan

Published

February 27, 2026

Welcome!

This page is your one-stop reference for the Building Your Portfolio in the AI Age workshop. Bookmark it — you’ll use it before, during, and after the session.

📋 Before the workshop → Complete the Pre-Read Checklist
🖥️ During the workshop → Follow along with the Setup Walkthrough and Slides
📚 After the workshop → Come back for Resources and Next Steps

Pre-Read Checklist

Please complete these before you arrive. They’ll save us valuable class time.

1. Create a GitHub Account (Required)

If you don’t already have one, sign up at github.com. Use a professional-sounding username — this will become part of your portfolio URL (e.g., yourusername.github.io).

⏱️ Time: ~5 minutes

2. Brush Up on Markdown (Recommended)

Quarto files are written in Markdown. If you’re not familiar, spend a few minutes reading the basics:

🔗 markdownguide.org/basic-syntax

You don’t need to memorize anything — just get a feel for headings (#), bold (**text**), links ([text](url)), and lists (-).

⏱️ Time: ~5 minutes

3. Think About Your Projects (Recommended)

Come to the workshop with 1-2 project ideas you might want to showcase. These don’t need to be polished — just ideas. Good candidates:

A class project or assignment you’re proud of
A Kaggle competition or personal analysis
A data visualization you’ve created
An internship or work project you can discuss publicly

Quick Checklist

GitHub account created
Skimmed Markdown basics
1-2 project ideas in mind

Slides

Slides will be embedded here after the workshop. In the meantime, you can view them directly:

🔗 View Slides

Workshop Setup

The following walkthrough will be covered in class, but it’s here for reference.

Step 1: Create Your Repo from the Template

Click to expand

Log in to github.com
Navigate to the template repo: github.com/phdjsep/gh-pages-quarto-portfolio-template
Click “Use this template” → “Create new repo”
In “Repository name”, enter: <your-username>.github.io
Click “Create Repository”

Step 2: Launch a Codespace

Click to expand

From your new repo, click the green “Code” button
Select the “Codespaces” tab
Click “Create codespace on main”
Wait ~2-3 minutes for it to spin up

You’ll get a full VS Code editor in your browser with Python, Quarto, and GitHub Copilot pre-installed.

Step 3: Create Your Quarto Site

Click to expand

In the terminal, run:

quarto --version    # Verify installation
quarto create       # Follow the prompts

Choose these options:

? Create › project
? Type › website
? Directory › ./
? Title (./) › "My Portfolio"

Then preview:

quarto preview

Step 4: Set Up Auto-Deploy with GitHub Actions

Click to expand

Create the file .github/workflows/publish.yml with the following content:

name: Deploy Quarto Site
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
jobs:
  build-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: write
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: quarto-dev/quarto-actions/setup@v2
      - name: Render and Publish
        uses: quarto-dev/quarto-actions/publish@v2
        with:
          target: gh-pages

Then enable GitHub Pages:

Go to your repo → Settings → Pages
Under “Source”, select the gh-pages branch
Click Save

Your site will be live at https://<your-username>.github.io after the first successful action run (~2 minutes).

Step 5: Create a Project Post

Click to expand

mkdir -p posts/my-first-project
touch posts/my-first-project/index.qmd

Add this YAML header to the new index.qmd:

---
title: "Your Project Title"
author: "Your Name"
date: today
categories: [analysis, python]
description: >
  A brief description of your project.
---

Then structure your post with these sections:

The Problem — why does this matter?
My Approach — what methods and tools did you use?
Key Findings — results and visualizations
Reflections — what you learned, limitations, next steps

AI Tips for Portfolio Building

Here are the prompt patterns we covered in the workshop:

Drafting an About Page

I’m a [degree] student studying [field]. I’m interested in [topics]. Help me draft a 150-word “About Me” for my portfolio. Professional but personable.

Writing a Project Summary

I completed a project where I [description]. The data was [source]. I used [methods]. The key finding was [result]. Write a portfolio summary: Problem → Approach → Results → Reflection.

Troubleshooting Quarto Errors

I’m getting this error when I run quarto preview: [paste error]. My _quarto.yml looks like this: [paste config]. What’s wrong?

The Golden Rule

AI assists, you author. Every word on your portfolio should represent your thinking. Use AI to get unstuck, not to replace your voice.

Next Steps

After the workshop, here’s your roadmap:

When	What
This week	Publish your “About Me” page and first project post
This month	Add 1-2 more projects from coursework or personal work
Ongoing	Customize your theme, add a CV page, explore Quarto themes
Before job hunting	Get a custom domain (~$20/year) and add the URL to your resume and LinkedIn

Resources

Core Tools

Resource	Link
Quarto	quarto.org
GitHub	github.com
GitHub Pages	pages.github.com
GitHub Education (free Copilot)	education.github.com
Markdown Guide	markdownguide.org

Inspiration & Learning

Resource	Link
Quarto Site Gallery	qmdclub.com
Awesome Quarto	github.com/mcanouil/awesome-quarto
Custom Domains on GitHub Pages	GitHub Docs
posit::conf(2025) Quarto Workshops	Quarto Blog
Happy Git and GitHub for the useR	happygitwithr.com

Workshop Materials

Resource	Link
Workshop Template Repo	github.com/phdjsep/gh-pages-quarto-portfolio-template
This Reference Page	sepd.dev/posts/quarto-portfolio-workshop
Buy a Domain	Hover

People

Groups

SoCalRUG