Create a Free Professional Resume Website and PDF with GitHub pages and Quarto

Are you looking to showcase your professional experience in a modern, easily accessible format? In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of creating your own resume website using GitHub and Quarto. The best part? It’s completely free and gives you a high-quality, trusted online presence in just minutes!
software-engineering
Author

Kabui, Charles

Published

15 September 2024

Keywords

quarto-free-resume, github-pages, free-resume, quarto, github-pages, PDF-resume

Download as PDF

Sample Quarto Resume - Jane Doe

Sample Quarto Resume - Jane Doe

Why Use Quarto and GitHub Pages?

Before we dive into the how-to, let’s understand why this combination is so powerful:

  1. Dual Format: You get both an HTML website and a PDF version of your resume. This means you have a professional online presence and a traditional document to share when needed.

  2. Easy Updates: Your resume is stored as a simple text file. Whenever you update it, both the website and PDF are automatically regenerated.

  3. Free Hosting: GitHub Pages hosts your website for free, saving you money on web hosting.

  4. Professional Domain: Your site will be at <your-github-username>.github.io, giving you a professional web presence without any cost.

  5. Version Control: GitHub keeps track of all changes, so you can always go back to a previous version if needed.

  6. Full Content Control: Unlike social media platforms or third-party resume builders, you have complete control over your content and how it’s presented.

  7. Trusted Platform: GitHub is widely used and trusted in the tech industry, adding credibility to your online presence.

What You’ll Need

  • A computer with internet access
  • Your resume information
  • About 30 minutes of your time

That’s it! You don’t need any coding experience or special software.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Create a GitHub Account

If you don’t already have one, you’ll need to create a GitHub account:

  1. Go to github.com
  2. Click “Sign up” in the top right corner
  3. Follow the prompts to create your account

Step 2: Set Up Your Resume Repository

You have two options for setting up your resume repository. Choose the one that best fits your needs:

Option A (Simple): Use the Template

This option is best if you want to get started quickly and don’t need to incorporate future updates to the template.

  1. Visit the ToKnow-ai/Quarto-Resume-Template
  2. Click the green “Use this template” button
  3. Choose “Create a new repository”
  4. Name your repository <your-github-username>.github.io (replace “<your-github-username>” with your actual GitHub username)
  5. Make sure it’s set to “Public”
  6. Click “Create repository from template”

Option B (Advanced): Fork the Repository (Stay Updated)

This option is best if you want to be able to easily incorporate future updates and improvements to the template.

  1. Visit the ToKnow-ai/Quarto-Resume-Template repository
  2. Click the “Fork” button in the top right corner of the page
  3. In the “Create a new fork” page, change the repository name to <your-github-username>.github.io (replace “<your-github-username>” with your actual GitHub username).
  4. Make sure “Copy the main branch only” is selected
  5. Click “Create fork”

By forking the repository:

  • You create a copy of the template in your own GitHub account
  • You can easily pull in future updates to the template by syncing your fork
  • You maintain the connection to the original repository, making it easier to contribute back if you make improvements
Important Note on Workflows in Forked Repositories

When you fork a repository that contains workflows, GitHub disables these workflows by default in the forked repository for security reasons. You’ll need to manually enable them:

Forked repository, click Actions tab.

Forked repository, click Actions tab.
  1. After forking, go to the “Actions” tab in your forked repository.
  2. You should see a message: > “Workflows aren’t being run on this forked repository Because this repository contained workflow files when it was forked, we have disabled them from running on this fork. Make sure you understand the configured workflows and their expected usage before enabling Actions on this repository.”
  3. Click on the green “I understand my workflows, go ahead and enable them” button.

If you don’t see this message or the “Actions” tab, you’ll need to recreate the repository: 1. Delete your forked repository. 2. Go back to the original ToKnow-ai/Quarto-Resume-Template repository and fork it again. 3. The “Actions” tab and the workflow enabling message should now appear.

Enabling workflows is crucial for automatically building and deploying your resume website. Make sure you review and understand the workflows before enabling them.

Syncing Your Forked Repository (When Updates Are Available)

To keep your resume template up-to-date with the latest features and improvements:

  1. Go to your forked repository on GitHub
  2. If your fork is behind the original repository, you’ll see a message saying “This branch is X commits behind ToKnow-ai:main”
  3. Click on “Sync fork” and then “Update branch” to pull in the latest changes

Remember to review any changes carefully, as they might affect your resume’s layout or content.

Step 3: Edit Your Resume

Now, let’s add your information:

  1. In your new repository, find the file named RESUME.md
  2. Click on the file, then click the pencil icon to edit
  3. Replace the example information with your own details
  4. When you’re done, scroll down and click “Commit changes”

Step 4: Customize Your Site

You can customize your site’s appearance and add extra information:

  1. Edit the RESUME.json file to change your site’s title, description, and other metadata
  2. Modify the _quarto.yml file to change the site’s theme or layout

Don’t worry if you’re not sure about these - the default settings look great too!

Step 5: Publish Your Site

GitHub will automatically build and publish your site:

  1. Go to your repository’s “Settings” tab
  2. Click on “Pages” in the left sidebar
  3. Under “Source”, select “Deploy from a branch”
  4. Choose “gh-pages” from the branch dropdown
  5. Click “Save”

Your site will now be live at https://your-github-username.github.io!

If you don’t edit your resume, here’s how your resume website will look: Website: https://toknow.ai/quarto-resume-template/ , PDF: https://toknow.ai/quarto-resume-template/index.pdf

Step 6 (Optional): Using a Custom Domain

If you have your own domain name:

  1. Add your domain to the custom-domain field in RESUME.json
  2. Go to your domain registrar and set up a CNAME record pointing to your-github-username.github.io

For detailed and up-to-date instructions, check Configuring a custom domain for your GitHub Pages site on how you can customize the domain name of your GitHub Pages site.

Examples and Resources

Below are some resumes created with this template:

For the Tech-Savvy: Under the Hood

If you’re interested in the technical details, here’s what’s happening behind the scenes:

  1. GitHub Actions: We use GitHub Actions to automatically build your resume. Every time you update your resume content, a GitHub Action is triggered to rebuild your site.

  2. Quarto: Quarto is an open-source scientific and technical publishing system. It’s typically used for creating dynamic content with Python, R, Julia, and Observable, but it’s also excellent for creating static sites like your resume.

    • Quarto takes your Markdown content and converts it into both HTML and PDF formats.
    • It handles the layout, styling, and responsiveness of your site.
    • Quarto is highly customizable, allowing for complex layouts and interactivity if needed in the future.

  3. Why Quarto is Great:

    • It separates content from presentation, making it easy to focus on your resume content.
    • It produces high-quality, professional-looking output.
    • It’s flexible enough to grow with your needs, from a simple resume to a full portfolio site.

To learn more about Quarto, check out the official Quarto documentation.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You now have a professional resume website that you can easily update and share. Remember, your site will be accessible at your-github-username.github.io unless you’ve set up a custom domain.

By leveraging GitHub and Quarto, you’re getting a professional, easily-updatable resume website and PDF, all hosted for free. This solution combines the best of both worlds: a modern web presence and a traditional document format.

Whether you’re a tech novice just looking for a simple solution, or a tech-savvy individual interested in the underlying processes, this template provides a robust, free, and trusted platform for showcasing your professional experience.

As your needs evolve, remember that Quarto can grow with you, allowing you to create more complex content like full websites, blogs, books, or even scientific papers - all using the same powerful publishing system.

Happy job hunting, and enjoy your new resume website!

If you run into any issues or want to learn more about customizing your site, ask your question in the comments section!

Disclaimer: For information only. Accuracy or completeness not guaranteed. Illegal use prohibited. Not professional advice or solicitation. Read more: /terms-of-service

Reuse

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE v3.0(View License)

Citation

BibTeX citation:
@misc{kabui2024,
  author = {Kabui, Charles},
  title = {Create a {Free} {Professional} {Resume} {Website} and {PDF}
    with {GitHub} Pages and {Quarto}},
  date = {2024-09-15},
  url = {https://toknow.ai/posts/quarto-resume-template/},
  langid = {en-GB}
}
For attribution, please cite this work as:
Kabui, Charles. 2024. “Create a Free Professional Resume Website and PDF with GitHub Pages and Quarto.” https://toknow.ai/posts/quarto-resume-template/.