How I Built My Personal Site as a Digital Identity Hub (And How You Can Too)

Mohammed Al-Sarraj — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:03:26 +0000

I never imagined a simple, free personal site could be this powerful. My goal wasn't just to get a URL—I wanted to build a "command center" for my entire digital identity. In this guide, I'll walk you through my journey of building Mohammed-Sarraj.github.io, which has become the anchor connecting all my professional profiles and boosting my visibility in search results. More importantly, I'll show you exactly how you can do the same.

The Challenge: A Fragmented Digital Identity

As a software engineer, my online presence was scattered. LinkedIn here, GitHub there, and a few other social profiles. The problem? There was no single point that tied it all together. Anyone searching for my name, Mohammed Al-Sarraj, would find fragments of my professional picture—never the complete one. I realized I needed one "home address" on the internet, just like my physical address in the real world.

The Solution: Why GitHub Pages is the Perfect Choice

I decided to build my site using GitHub Pages. Why? Three key reasons:

Completely Free: No hosting or domain costs.
High Domain Authority: Search engines like Google trust GitHub sites deeply.
Seamless Integration: My code repositories are already on GitHub, making the site a natural extension of my work.

The Build: Anatomy of a Strong Digital Identity Site (With a Personal Touch)

I wasn't aiming for a complex site—just a simple, effective one that gets the job done. Here are the core elements I focused on, and how you can apply them:

1. Title & Meta Description: This is the first thing a search engine sees. I made sure my page title (Mohammed Al-Sarraj — Software Engineer & Full Stack Developer) included my full name and specialty.

2. Structured Data (Schema Markup): I added JSON-LD code for Person and ProfilePage. This tells Google exactly who I am, what my job is, and which social accounts are officially mine. Think of it as a digital passport for search engines.

3. Bilingual Content: Since I target both Arabic and global audiences, I built the site in both English and Arabic. This doubled my chances of appearing in search results.

4. Internal Linking Network: This is the secret sauce! I placed clear links to all my professional profiles (LinkedIn, GitHub) and vice versa. This creates a "web" that tells Google all these trusted accounts belong to the same person—me.

The Result: More Than Just a Resume

My site is no longer just a digital CV. It's living proof of my ability to build a product from scratch, and it's a customizable, scalable piece of art. Every update I push to GitHub is instantly reflected. It tells the story of my growth as a developer, and it's been the best investment I've made in my career.

Your Turn!

Building your personal site is one of the most powerful steps you can take to control your digital identity.

Check out my personal site here: https://Mohammed-Sarraj.github.io/
What's the biggest challenge you've faced in building your own site? Share your experience in the comments!
If you have any questions, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.

🛠 Fixing Broken Angular Live Reload & EPERM Errors on Windows (For Good)

Mohammed Al-Sarraj — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:24:23 +0000

Hello DEV Community 👋

If you develop Angular applications on Windows, you’ve probably faced at least one of these frustrating issues:

Live Reload randomly stops working — you save a file, but the browser doesn’t refresh.

The dreaded EPERM error — the .angular/cache directory gets locked and crashes your build.

These problems are usually caused by Windows file system behavior and file watcher limitations.

As a Full-Stack Engineer who values a smooth Developer Experience (DX), I got tired of manually deleting the cache and restarting the server.

So I built a lightweight automation script to handle it for me.

💡 The Solution: Angular Auto Runner

A simple Batch script (Run-Project.bat) that you drop into your project root.

Double-click it — and your Angular environment is clean, verified, and running safely.

🔎 What the Script Does
🧹 1. Cleans Angular Cache

Force-deletes .angular/cache before launch to eliminate common EPERM lock issues.

📦 2. Verifies Dependencies

Checks if node_modules exists.
If missing (e.g., fresh clone), it automatically runs npm install.

⚡ 3. Forces Reliable Live Reload

Runs:

ng serve --hmr --poll 2000 --open

The --poll 2000 flag forces Angular to check file changes every 2 seconds — a reliable workaround for Windows file watcher instability.

💻 The Script
@echo off
title Angular Auto Runner - Windows Fix
color 0A

echo ===================================================
echo Angular Ultimate Runner (Windows Fix)
echo ===================================================
echo.

:: 1. Clean Angular Cache
echo [1/3] Cleaning Angular Cache...
if exist ".angular\cache" (
rmdir /s /q ".angular\cache"
)

:: 2. Check Dependencies
echo [2/3] Checking dependencies...
if not exist "node_modules" (
echo [!] node_modules not found. Installing dependencies...
call npm install
)

:: 3. Launch Angular with Polling + HMR
echo [3/3] Launching Angular...
echo Mode: HMR + Polling (Windows Safe Mode)
echo ===================================================
call ng serve --hmr --poll 2000 --open

echo.
echo [!] Server stopped.
pause
📂 Get the Script

You can grab the file and full documentation from my GitHub repository:

👉 Angular Auto Runner

If you're developing Angular on Windows, this might save you from a lot of unnecessary restarts and debugging headaches.

If you use a different approach or have other Windows-specific Angular fixes, I’d love to hear them in the comments.

Happy coding 🚀