GitHub Glowup

Stand out with a customized GitHub profile

Published: August 26, 2024

Last updated: Jul 29, 2025

Sam Shanny-Csik |
Lecturer & Data Training Coordinator

Master of Environmental Data Science |
Bren School of Environmental Science & Management


Slides & source code available on GitHub

Part of the MEDS Career & Professional Development Workshop Series

GitHub is a portfolio


Yes, it’s a place to safely preserve versions of our work (in case our computers implode).


But it’s also (often) a place where current and / or potential collaborators and employers can:


explore your code

see your documentation

get a sense of your organizational practices and workflows

understand how you collaborate on projects (and with who)

learn about you as a person who has interests and a personality

1. Personalize your profile


By default, your profile photo is a unique Identicon, which is generated from your GitHub user ID – pretty cool! But you should absolutely update this with your photo.

  • Takes very little time and “gives a sense of authenticity”
  • Photo makes your commits / contributions more easily recognizable
  • Short bio is a nice quick intro + links to your public profiles / website(s)

1. Personalize your profile

To update your profile image and bio, click on Edit profile or on your photo. Consider adding:

  • a photo!
  • your pronouns
  • your company or school
  • current location
  • personal website URL
  • social media (LinkedIn & Bluesky are great options to include!) – best if these are professional accounts
  • a short bio – your current title or role, or even a tagline is great here

Find more information on GitHub Docs

2. Pin repos that showcase your skills

Find more information on GitHub Docs

2. Pin repos that showcase your skills

  • Each should be well-organized, have a README, and ideally a short description (update “About” section)
  • Order them from most > least “important”
  • Update your pinned repos as necessary
  • Which repos should you pin?
    • “things that do the best job of communicating the skills that you’re bringing to the table” (A. Haddad)
      • personal website is a great place to start!
      • personal projects
      • course projects and / or capstone repo(s)

Pin up to 6 repositories by:

  • Navigating to your desired repo > click Pin (top right), or
  • If you already have a pinned repo(s): from landing page, click Customize your pins, then check up to 6 boxes

3. Make sure your contributions count


  • Greener squares = more commits
  • An *indicator of how much you’re coding
  • *Indicates quantity, not quality

Troubleshooting or trying to understand your contributions map? Check out this help documentation: Why are my contributions now showing up on my profile?

4. Add a profile README


To add a profile README:

  1. Create a new repo and give it the same name as your GitHub username (e.g. my repo is named “samanthacsik”, which matches my GitHub username)
  2. Make sure your repo is Public and initialize it with a README
  3. Click the Edit README button to edit directly in the browser (I find this easier than cloning and editing locally)

See GitHub documentation for more info on profile READMEs

4. Add a profile README

  • A place to introduce yourself!
  • Consider including:
    • A version of your bio (I start mine off with text from my personal website landing page)
    • Impactful contributions you’ve made (and context)
    • Personal project descriptions + links
    • Something(s) that you’re currently working on
    • Guidance on how to connect with your professional communities
  • Some template suggestions are provided when you first create your repo / initialize your README (and check out the Emoji Cheat Sheet)

See the GitHub documentation for more info on profile READMEs

4. Add a profile README

See someone with a really cool README? Check out the source code! Navigate to their profile README repo > click on the README.md file > switch to “Code” view:



Always consider web accessibility




Web accessibility means that websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them. More specifically, people can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and contribute to the Web

-W3C Web Accessibility Initiative

Improve your GitHub profile page accessibility

A few simple ways to ensure that assistive technology can help users understand and navigate your README:

  1. Make links descriptive: assistive technologies present links in isolation, so provide context
  1. Add alt text to images: screen readers read alt text descriptions out loud
    • e.g. in html, <img src="image-url.com" alt="This is alt text">
  1. Use proper heading structure: helps people understand content structure and more easily navigate sections
    • e.g. use # for your title, then the appropriate level-header thereafter (don’t skip levels)
  1. Structure lists with proper markup: helps people understand lists as they are intended
    • e.g. use * or - for each list item, rather than special characters or emojis

The above pointers come from the github.blog post, 5 tips for making your GitHub profile page accessible, and they apply to all web pages, not just your README!

You may use the remainder of our time to finish customizing your GitHub profile!