Make Your GitHub Profile Stand Out — Without Overdoing It

After flipping through a bunch of ideas for my next post, I figured: why not take it back to the basics — the GitHub Profile README. I know, I know… "Not another one of these again 🙄." But hear me out.

Your GitHub profile README is your digital business card in the developer world. With over 100 million developers on GitHub, standing out isn't just nice to have — it's essential. But what separates the ones that make you pause and scroll from the ones that look like a markdown dump? It's the small stuff — the personalization, the styling, the vibe.

So in this post, I'll walk you through how I built my GitHub README — not just another copy-paste template, but something that actually reflects who I am as a backend engineer and learner. Plus, I'll drop the tools, snippets, and sneaky tricks I used to make it pop. Let’s dive in.

---

1. Why Even Bother With a Profile README?

Let's get this out of the way: no, you don't need a flashy README to land a job.

But this page is often your first impression. Recruiters, collaborators, or curious devs will land here before they even touch your code. You might as well make it tell your story in your voice — a first impression. A chance to say "Hey, here's who I am, what I care about, and what I build."

Mine's not overloaded, but it's structured to show off the key things:

• What I do (backend, ML, systems)

• What I like (clean code, structured APIs, things that don't break randomly)

• What I'm exploring (LLMs, RAG pipelines, vector DBs)

It's like a digital handshake — except less awkward.

---

2. Setting Up the Profile README

To get started:

1. Navigate to GitHub and click the green "New" button to create a new repo.

2. Name it exactly like your GitHub username precisely (case-sensitive) (e.g., adheeb2)

3. Visibility: Public (obviously)

4. Tick the box to add a README.

5. Boom. You've got your own profile repo.

Pro tip: GitHub will show you a special message when you create this repo — that's how you know you did it right.

# Your repo URL should look like this:
https://github.com/yourusername/yourusername

From here, that README.md is your canvas.

---

3. Custom Header and About Section — Ditch the Clichés

I didn't want to do the typical:

👋 Hi, I'm Adheeb!
🔭 I'm working on XYZ
🌱 I'm learning ABC

Instead, I opened with this:

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/mGcNjsfWAjY5AEZNw6/giphy.gif" width="50"> Adheeb Anvar  
**`Systems Alchemist (Backend Dev / ML Learner / Interactive Game Crafter)`**

Why "Systems Alchemist"? Because it sounds cooler than "Software Developer". Also you get a cutesy little kitten popping up besides my name. It just felt nice to add,check the img src in the code snippet . I framed my intro around what I do and care about, not just what I've used.

---

4. Building the Tech Stack Section

Instead of bullet points or long paragraphs, I went for a toolbelt look. Something like this:

<img align="left" alt="TypeScript" width="30px" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/devicons/devicon/icons/typescript/typescript-plain.svg" />
<img align="left" alt="NestJS" width="30px" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/devicons/devicon/icons/nestjs/nestjs-original.svg" />
<!-- and so on... -->

I kept it focused on tools I actually use — NestJS, PostgreSQL, Python, FastAPI, Unity — and not just every logo I could find. I used icons from Devicon for making this painless.

---

5. GitHub Stats and Snake Game — Why Not?

To showcase my github stats, I added:

![Anurag's GitHub stats](https://github-readme-stats.vercel.app/api?username=adheeb2&show_icons=true&theme=radical)

Just be sure to replace my username with yours — otherwise, you’ll end up showing my stats.

And for a tiny dopamine hit:

![ GitHub contribution Snake animation](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Anmol-Baranwal/Anmol-Baranwal/output/github-contribution-grid-snake-dark.svg)

It’s just a cool snake animation that looks cool and catches the eyes of the viewer just perfectly.

Is it necessary? No. Does it make me smile? Absolutely.

---

6. Contact Section - Just Keep It Useful

I like keeping things direct:

<a href = "https://www.linkedin.com/in/adheeb-anvar/">💼 Linkedin</a> |
<a href="mailto:adheebanvar2@gmail.com">📧 Email</a> |
<a href="https://github.com/adheeb2">🔗 GitHub</a> |
<a href="https://hashnode.com/@adheeb">📝 Blog</a>

People can find me. That’s the point.

---

Just Me Being Real Here

Honestly, I didn’t overthink this README. I just wanted a clean space that reflects who I am, what I work on, and where I’m headed.

The examples I've shared work for me because they reflect who I am as a developer. Your README should reflect you — your interests, your journey, your goals.

Don't copy-paste this guide. Use it as inspiration to create something uniquely yours.

If you’re putting off making your own README because you think it has to be some flashy portfolio… it doesn’t. Just start. Add what feels right. Ship it. Improve later. Kind of like most of the projects we build anyway.