Tech badges done right
Stack badges started as a way to advertise your project's dependencies. They evolved into a recruiter's shortcut, then a personality signal. This guide is about doing them well — picking the badges that say something, keeping them sharp on every device, and not turning your README into a shields.io fan-page.
Why badges
A reader skimming a README spends ~5 seconds before deciding to scroll. Badges are the first parseable signal — they answer "what is this thing made of" without forcing the reader to read prose. For a profile README, badges answer "what does this person know." They're visual sentences.
The mistake everyone makes is using badges as decoration. Twenty badges of every tech you've ever touched dilutes the signal. Pick five. Make them the five a hiring manager or a contributor most needs to know.