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Lakshita Kumawat
Lakshita Kumawat

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Is there Any Unique Project Ideas left?

Hi dev! We all know that to become a good dev we need to be unique in this competitive world and we all try to make new projects which helps people.

But when it comes to projects, some dev says you should make clones of popular apps and some says you should try to make somethings unique.

What problem I am facing

As a learning webdev, I think making clones of popular apps is a great way to get experience.

But the problem is unique ideas. Not only me but other learning devs also face the same problem to get unique ideas.

When I think to make something unique, no ideas comes in my mind cause there are many things which are already built.

For example, if you search a notes app in playstore, then you can see thousands of app which are almost same, just with some different features.

There are thousands of softwares and app which are already built and its hard to find somthing unique for learning devs like me. When i think about an idea and search it online, its already made.

And that why, I want to ask all the dev, how you get ideas of unique project? Which unique projects you have built yet? Or you are also like me, who is looking for a unique idea that people will remember you for? Comment your answer. It will help a lot

Also happy coding🌈

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Top comments (32)

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railsdesigner profile image
Rails Designer • Edited

Change your mindset from finding ideas. Find problems to solve. This might sound like mere semantics, but the former starts with you, the latter with the customer that pays you.

I've helped countless teams over the years and what these products all had in common was they targeted an industry or audience beyond developers/software teams.

If you truly want to build a business instead of coding a project, stop to think like a developer and start thinking like an entrepreneur. ☺️

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lakshita_kumawat profile image
Lakshita Kumawat

I never think to open a business. I just want to make great website which will help people in the real world.
Now i understand that it doesnt matter if anything is already built. I should see its problems and try to make it more better.
Thanks to all☺️

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nikokiirala profile image
Niko Kiirala

I would claim it doesn't matter all that much wether you're starting a business or building an useful website just for fun. In the latter case you don't need to think about if you can monetize the site or not, but pretty much everything else still applies.

I had a good advice once from an enterpreneurship coach: if you're trying to solve a unique problem, something no-one else has done before, there's a high risk you're solving a problem that no-one really cares about. Some problems also seem clearly useful but somehow unsolved - you may have found what the Y Combinator folks call "tarpit ideas". The solution would indeed be useful, but it also happens to be incredibly hard to pull off, for non-obvious reasons.

But don't let above deter you! Just something to keep in mind. Despite the possible pitfalls, there are also a whole lot of problems out there where a web app or some other piece of software would come useful but one hasn't been created yet, and just because no-one with the skills and the time has done it.

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thecodingbam profile image
TheCodingBam

Exactly 💯

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thecodingbam profile image
TheCodingBam

Wooow 😳 🙈..... I love this

Exactly 🔆💯 you have to think of a problem to solve. After all we are devs because we solve problems

Think like a Business person and not a coder alone

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

I think if they were easy to find they wouldn't be unique.

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borgoat profile image
Giorgio Azzinnaro

I used to do the same, look for completely "unique" things (whatever that means...) and immediately discard whatever I was doing if I found anyone did the same before.
But at some point I figured this is a dumb strategy. Just because somebody did something already, it doesn't mean that there's no space for me to give it a shot.

In fact, if somebody else is working on it, it probably means you're onto something, solving some real problem that someone else has. Sometimes it's just good to build things as they come, if I can get ideas from others, that's good. If I reinvent the wheel somewhere, that's also fine.

I love the definition of an idea being a combination of two or more old ideas (yes, it's recursive, and probably the reason I love it so much 😅). You can do better than others on so many levels, something could be cheaper, or have a better performance, or have a nicer UI; sometimes having less features is an advantage, make something cheaper and easier to use.

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jonrandy profile image
Jon Randy 🎖️ • Edited

It's important to remember that projects do not have to be useful, or even solve a problem - most of the things I've enjoyed building the most certainly don't. Do anything you like! Explore ideas, make art with code, make a dumb game, make music... go nuts!

Did you worry about your Lego models being unique? Let your creativity run wild. You'll enjoy it more and you might find the spark of a big idea while you're playing.

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gauravsingh8026 profile image
gauravsingh8026

On that note please check out this dumb game I am working on - BattleCompare

Please do not consider this comment as I am trying to promote my game. Actually I am, but this is secondary, primarily I am desperately looking for feedbacks and reviews, which will boost my confidence to work more efficiently on further plans I have with this project.
Thank you ❤🙏

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lakshita_kumawat profile image
Lakshita Kumawat

I will keep it in mind @jonrandy 😁

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ekimcem profile image
Ekim Cem Ülger

I think what makes something unique is not just the idea or the problem it solves, but how it is solved. Most likely, for every idea that comes to your mind, you will find an existing product or see people discussing it. But what truly matters is how it is built, how it is presented, which platforms it targets, the UX it offers, and how it is marketed.

Do you think Facebook was the first social platform? Was Google the first search engine? None of them were. The key is solving a problem in a different way. And as a developer, it's important to move beyond just building a product and expecting it to succeed—thinking like an entrepreneur is crucial.

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kurealnum profile image
Oscar

Find a problem that you or someone else has, and build something to solve it.

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ingosteinke profile image
Ingo Steinke, web developer

Look out for unfinished projects, like my Contact Form Inbox Report Mailer for WordPress, trying to add a missing feature, giving up probably at the same point where others did.

There are enough problems and challenges to be solved beyond to-do-list apps, movie database clones, or solutions looking for a problem. You could also look at popular but understaffed open-source projects with too many open issues.

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svijaykoushik profile image
Vijay Koushik, S. 👨🏽‍💻

It's ironic that I had the same question in mind, only to discover someone else had already asked it. I love the responses from others that I learned after joining work. Great question! Keep exploring.

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lakshita_kumawat profile image
Lakshita Kumawat • Edited

@svijaykoushik There are still some devs who have the same question and i hope this post will help them 😁

You know why this question raised in my mind? It because i am looking to start building my portfolio after completeing react js and in many portfolio reviews i have heard that you should try to tell that how you are different from other devs.

And that time i though that if i want to be different from other dev, i should try to make a project that no one has created. And that the reason for asking the question😅
I am happy that many people commented their answers and their experiences ☺️ and i am suprised that many people read this post from google. Maybe they had the same problem🙂

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svijaykoushik profile image
Vijay Koushik, S. 👨🏽‍💻

I see your point, and I think it's a great one! I definitely learned that I don't have to come up with something completely unique or try to clone a popular app to learn something new. I can simply focus on solving my own problems, and that can be a fantastic way to learn.
For example, I created a shell script to categorize all the files in my downloads folder based on their type and then move them into separate folders. This was a fun little project that helped me learn a lot about shell scripting.

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bernardigiri profile image
Bernard Igiri

There's an overabundance of unique ideas that haven't been made. Unfortunately, you'd have to focus on underserved communities whose niche needs have never been met. Then you risk not being able to fund it. However, if you connect strongly enough with such communities, and provide a genuine need in an effective form, they will find the means to pay you.

Some risk factors are:

  1. Carving out a niche that is too small for your revenue model.
  2. Charging too much for the target market.
  3. Not effectively identifying the target market and their specific needs.
  4. Not effectively connecting with said community and gaining their trust and sense of authenticity.
  5. Missing the finer details that truly define this need.
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lakshita_kumawat profile image
Lakshita Kumawat

@bernardigiri I was talking about app or website project idea not about business. It was my mistake I didnt specify correctly😅

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gokayburuc profile image
gokayburuc.dev

There is only one question here Where does a project idea come from? Project Idea emerges from observations It arises from the needs or desires of the people around you.If you were a software developer, how would you do the same project?If you want to produce a final product, you must first provide the raw materials and the recipe for the product.At this point, the experience you get from the book you read, the experience you get from talking to people, the experience you get from your own experiences, the expectations and desires of those around you are important. Everything you see in your life can be turned into a project, just record everything you see.

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