Part 2 of the "Building Production Tools" series
We've all been there. Scrolling through GitHub, seeing impressive portfolios, and wondering: "How do I build something that actually matters?" After shipping dozens of side projects over the years, I've learned that the difference between a forgotten repo and a career-changing tool isn't always technical complexity—it's solving real problems.
My WhatsApp chat to PDF converter started as a weekend hack to help my mom save family conversations. Today, it's become ChatToPDF, a tool that thousands use monthly and has opened more career doors than my formal credentials ever did. Here's what I learned about building side projects that actually move the needle.
The Problem That Started Everything 🤔
When Personal Need Meets Technical Challenge
The idea wasn't glamorous. My mom wanted to print WhatsApp conversations for legal documentation—family discussions about property, important decisions, memories with relatives who'd passed away. The existing solutions were either expensive SaaS tools requiring uploads to unknown servers (privacy nightmare) or technical tutorials assuming everyone knows how to run Python scripts.
I needed something that was:
- Privacy-first (no data leaves the user's device)
- Dead simple (my mom should be able to use it)
- Reliable (formatting couldn't break with emoji or complex conversations)
- Free (because charging for basic data conversion felt wrong)
This combination of genuine personal need and clear technical constraints created the perfect side project foundation. I wasn't building for an imaginary user—I was building for someone sitting across from me at the dinner table.
Why I Didn't Use Existing Solutions
Before writing a single line of code, I spent hours researching alternatives:
Online converters: Required uploading private conversations to third-party servers. Hard pass.
Desktop software: Clunky interfaces, often paid, and installation friction for non-technical users.
Browser extensions: Limited to specific messaging platforms, inconsistent formatting.
Python scripts on GitHub: Perfect for developers, intimidating for everyone else.
The gap was clear: no solution balanced privacy, simplicity, and reliability. This is the sweet spot where meaningful side projects live—when existing solutions have obvious flaws you can fix.
Choosing the Right Tech Stack 🛠️
JavaScript vs Python for Text Processing
I considered Python first. It's my comfort zone, and libraries like pandas make data manipulation trivial:
import pandas as pd
import re
def parse_whatsapp_chat(text):
pattern = r'(\d{1,2}/\d{1,2}/\d{2,4}), (\d{1,2}:\d{2})\s*([AP]M)?\s*-\s*(.*?): (.*)'
matches = re.findall(pattern, text)
df = pd.DataFrame(matches, columns=['date', 'time', 'ampm', 'sender', 'message'])
return df.to_html()
But Python meant installation barriers. JavaScript meant browser-native execution:
function parseWhatsAppChat(chatText) {
const regex = /(\d{1,2}\/\d{1,2}\/\d{2,4}), (\d{1,2}:\d{2})\s*([AP]M)?\s*-\s*(.*?): (.*)/g;
const messages = [];
let match;
while ((match = regex.exec(chatText)) !== null) {
messages.push({
date: match[1],
time: match[2],
ampm: match[3],
sender: match[4],
message: match[5]
});
}
return messages;
}
The JavaScript version wasn't technically superior, but it eliminated the biggest barrier to adoption: installation friction. Sometimes the "worse" technical choice is the better product choice.
PDF Generation Library Comparison
For PDF generation, I compared three approaches:
jsPDF: Lightweight, but limited formatting options.
const doc = new jsPDF();
doc.text(message, 10, 10);
doc.save('chat.pdf');
Puppeteer: Full Chrome automation, perfect formatting, but required server infrastructure.
html2canvas + jsPDF: Hybrid approach—render HTML to canvas, then to PDF.
html2canvas(chatContainer).then(canvas => {
const imgData = canvas.toDataURL('image/png');
const pdf = new jsPDF();
pdf.addImage(imgData, 'PNG', 0, 0);
pdf.save('chat.pdf');
});
I chose the hybrid approach. Not the most elegant code, but it preserved emoji, handled complex layouts, and worked entirely in the browser.
Why I Chose Simplicity Over Complexity
Every architectural decision came down to one question: "Will this help my mom print her conversations faster?"
No user accounts: Authentication adds complexity without solving the core problem.
No server backend: Client-side processing meant zero privacy concerns and infinite scaling.
No fancy UI framework: Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS meant smaller bundle size and fewer dependencies to maintain.
This constraint-driven approach forced me to build something robust by necessity, not by accident.
From MVP to Production Tool 🏗️
The 80/20 Rule in Action
The first version took one weekend and handled 80% of use cases:
- Basic message parsing
- Simple PDF generation
- File upload interface
The remaining 20% took six months:
- Edge cases in WhatsApp export formats
- Cross-browser compatibility issues
- Mobile device optimization
- Error handling and user feedback
That 20% is what separated a GitHub demo from a tool people actually use. The unglamorous work—input validation, error messages, loading states—makes the difference between "cool project" and "production ready."
User Feedback That Changed Everything
I shared the initial version on Reddit's r/WhatsApp expecting maybe 10 downloads. It hit the front page overnight. The feedback was immediate and brutal:
"Doesn't work with group chats" → Added group conversation detection
"PDF is too small to read" → Implemented responsive font sizing
"My emoji show up as squares" → Fixed Unicode handling across browsers
"Can I remove timestamps?" → Added customization options
Each piece of feedback revealed assumptions I'd made. My test data was clean, recent exports from my specific phone model. Real users had messy data, old Android exports, business WhatsApp, and dozens of edge cases I'd never considered.
The project improved not because I was a better programmer, but because I listened to actual users solving actual problems.
Features I Almost Built (But Didn't)
The feature request list grew quickly:
- Batch processing multiple chats
- Cloud storage integration
- Advanced search and filtering
- Custom themes and branding
- Analytics dashboard
I built none of them. Each request got the same evaluation: "Does this solve the core problem better, or does it complicate the core problem?"
The most successful side projects often succeed by doing one thing exceptionally well, not by doing many things adequately. ChatToPDF converts WhatsApp chats to PDFs. That's it. That focus is its strength.
Making Your Side Project Stand Out 🌟
Solving Real Problems vs Building for Fun
The projects that changed my career weren't the technically impressive ones—they were the ones that solved problems I actually had:
My password manager: Built because I was tired of forgetting logins.
My habit tracker: Built because existing apps were overcomplicated.
My WhatsApp converter: Built because my mom needed it.
The technical challenges emerged naturally from the problem constraints. I didn't choose React because I wanted to learn React; I chose it because component reusability made the UI development faster.
Start with the problem, not the technology. The most impressive GitHub portfolios aren't showcases of every framework—they're collections of solutions to real problems.
Documentation That Sells Your Skills
Your README is your first impression. Compare these approaches:
Bad:
# WhatsApp Chat Converter
Converts WhatsApp chats to PDF. Built with HTML/CSS/JS.
Good:
# ChatToPDF - Privacy-First WhatsApp Chat Converter
Convert your WhatsApp conversations to beautifully formatted PDFs without uploading your private messages to any server.
## Why This Exists
Existing solutions require uploading private conversations to third-party servers or installing complex software. ChatToPDF processes everything locally in your browser.
## Technical Highlights
- Zero-dependency chat parsing with robust regex handling
- Client-side PDF generation preserving emoji and formatting
- Cross-browser compatibility (tested on 12+ devices)
- Responsive design working on mobile and desktop
[Live Demo](https://chattopdf.app) | [Technical Blog Post](...)
The second version tells a story: problem identification, solution design, technical execution. It demonstrates product thinking, not just coding ability.
Open Source vs Commercial Considerations
I made ChatToPDF free and open source, but the decision wasn't obvious. Here's my framework for similar choices:
Open source when:
- The problem affects a broad community
- Learning and skill demonstration are primary goals
- Maintenance overhead is manageable
- You want community contributions
Commercial when:
- Ongoing costs require revenue (servers, APIs)
- Significant time investment needs return
- Market validation suggests paying customers
- Business development is part of your goals
For ChatToPDF, open source was right. The tool needed trust (users sharing private conversations), community input improved edge case handling, and my goal was skill demonstration rather than revenue generation.
The Unexpected Career Benefits đź’Ş
How This Tool Changed My Professional Life
The technical skills I gained were expected: better regex handling, PDF generation libraries, cross-browser testing. The unexpected benefits were bigger:
Product intuition: Understanding user feedback and feature prioritization
Technical communication: Writing documentation that non-developers understand
Problem identification: Recognizing gaps between user needs and existing solutions
Constraint-driven design: Building robustly within limited resources
These meta-skills showed up in every subsequent job interview. When asked about side projects, I didn't just demo the code—I walked through the problem identification, solution design, and user feedback incorporation process.
Skills Gained Beyond Coding
Building a tool people actually use teaches skills that classroom projects can't:
User empathy: Watching your mom struggle with your interface is humbling
Edge case handling: Real users find ways to break your assumptions
Performance optimization: 2MB chat files taught me about memory management
Cross-platform testing: Different devices, browsers, and export formats
The debugging skills alone were worth the effort. Production issues are different from tutorial problems—they're messier, context-dependent, and require systematic investigation rather than pattern matching.
Advice for Your Next Side Project
Based on shipping ChatToPDF and watching it grow to thousands of monthly users, here's my framework for choosing your next project:
Start with irritation, not inspiration. The best projects solve problems you personally face regularly. If you're not the target user, you're guessing about priorities.
Optimize for completion, not complexity. A finished simple project beats an abandoned complex one. You can always iterate after shipping v1.
Build for one person first. If you can't satisfy a single user completely, you definitely can't satisfy a thousand users partially.
Document the journey, not just the destination. Your development process often teaches more than the final code. Blog about decisions, trade-offs, and lessons learned.
Measure usage, not features. The metric that matters is whether people continue using your tool after the first try. Everything else is vanity.
What side project is irritating you into existence? The tools that change careers aren't always the most technically sophisticated—they're the ones that solve real problems for real people. Start small, ship fast, and listen to users. The skills you gain from taking a project from idea to production will surprise you.
What's your most successful side project story? Share it in the comments below—I'd love to hear about the unexpected lessons you learned along the way.
Series Navigation:
- Part 1: Production-Ready Code Lessons from Building a WhatsApp Tool
- Part 2: Building Side Projects That Actually Matter (You are here)
- Part 3: Technical Decision Making Under Real-World Constraints (Coming next week)
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