This is really difficult! A lot of companies expect that developers (even ones with years of experience) provide samples of code they didn't get paid to produce. Crazy, right? I guess this is what we get for producing intellectual property at work. And, other professionals can point to just having had their previous job as proof of their ability.
Similarly to you, I currently don't have any production-worthy projects that I didn't build for an employer, and even the front-end code I wrote for my employers has been on internal tools and dashboards, so there's almost nothing on the public internet I can point to and say, "I made that."
There probably isn't anything you can do except either code something on the side or hope to find a a company to apply to that respects the fact that not every developer codes outside work.
I feel a bit trapped between investing 1 month to build a personal project and the fear that the job won't be available anymore by the time I finish it.
However, probably I don't stand a great chance to get the job if I don't send anything, anyway.
I agree with Bassem 100%. A personal website is a good way to demonstrate your abilities; it shows examples of your code, your writing, you ability to deploy and maintain production code, and maybe even you ability to maintain a public repo. That's a good place to start.
If you want to show a specific company you're able to learn their stack, or if you're targeting a specific stack to work with at a new gig, it might be worth putting something small together that you can build off of over time and even if it's super simple it will give you a link to share.
Don't build a personal project for a specific position you want to apply to.
Build a personal project for you. If you don't enjoy it or learn something out of it. Don't do it.
On the other hand, a good personal project to build - I would say - is a personal website. Pick a Tech stack that you want to get better at or learn from scratch and start coding.
Personal websites act as personal projects that you can send to companies and it helps get your name out there.
Also, It doesn't have to take 1 month. Start small, expand later!
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This is really difficult! A lot of companies expect that developers (even ones with years of experience) provide samples of code they didn't get paid to produce. Crazy, right? I guess this is what we get for producing intellectual property at work. And, other professionals can point to just having had their previous job as proof of their ability.
Similarly to you, I currently don't have any production-worthy projects that I didn't build for an employer, and even the front-end code I wrote for my employers has been on internal tools and dashboards, so there's almost nothing on the public internet I can point to and say, "I made that."
There probably isn't anything you can do except either code something on the side or hope to find a a company to apply to that respects the fact that not every developer codes outside work.
I feel a bit trapped between investing 1 month to build a personal project and the fear that the job won't be available anymore by the time I finish it.
However, probably I don't stand a great chance to get the job if I don't send anything, anyway.
I agree with Bassem 100%. A personal website is a good way to demonstrate your abilities; it shows examples of your code, your writing, you ability to deploy and maintain production code, and maybe even you ability to maintain a public repo. That's a good place to start.
If you want to show a specific company you're able to learn their stack, or if you're targeting a specific stack to work with at a new gig, it might be worth putting something small together that you can build off of over time and even if it's super simple it will give you a link to share.
Don't build a personal project for a specific position you want to apply to.
Build a personal project for you. If you don't enjoy it or learn something out of it. Don't do it.
On the other hand, a good personal project to build - I would say - is a personal website. Pick a Tech stack that you want to get better at or learn from scratch and start coding.
Personal websites act as personal projects that you can send to companies and it helps get your name out there.
Also, It doesn't have to take 1 month. Start small, expand later!