I understand SPA's are all the rage these days. That is why I ask this question. I am enjoying keeping my site simple and clean. However, I am considering making it a SPA but I wonder if it is even worth it. What do you think employers are looking for when they see a job candidates site?
Are you looking for a job that requires SPA development experience?
I wouldn't look for a job needing Java and write my example code in Perl (for example)
If you link to your website on your resume; mention it in conversation be it over email, phone or in person, expect the employer to look at the website (in addition to your samples) as proof of experience.
If your looking for something completely different - ie: Windows desktop app development, then I don't think it matters what tech stack / concept is used for the site, so long as it does it's job.
I think it would be better to just create an application separately. Just making things like a simple project management tool or a game, anything that shows off your skillset. Then you can open-source it and maybe someone can actually use it. WIN/WIN!
I am in the middle of redesigning my own personal site at the moment, hopefully be done at the end of the week, but I ran with the same question that you had, and just decided to try it out and see how I could do it. Came out with a simple solution using pure JavaScript, is used more as an enhancement rather than requirement, and with minimal changes to the back-end. I'll probably continue working on it, eventually work form submissions into it as well, but it handles everything well so far. Let's just say this, no one expects a enterprise solution on a personal site. That is where you go to experiment and get your ideas out there. So if you think you are up to it, go ahead.
Zach Kirkland
Tommy Hodgins
CSS & Element Queries
I would only expect it to be an application if it was an application. Seeing somebody over-engineer their résumé wouldn't inspire me to hire them if I thought they were going to over-engineer the solutions they build for me.
Over-engineering sends the following signals to potential employers
If the thing you're trying to build and communicate is ~1 page of text, with basic styles, an application sends a very bad signal to anybody who is technical enough to understand how you've built it.
If you want to show off the fact that you can build an application, try to build an application to show off in your portfolio that:
Then I'd be impressed at your application-building abilities :D