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Discussion on: How to find project ideas to practice web development(Not A Todo App)

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redcaptom profile image
Red Cap Tom • Edited

May I suggest a different path? Disclaimer: super biased.

Build something that people will use - not to boost your portfolio, but to feel what it's like to have an app in production with real feature requests, and bugs, and deployment environments, and platform limitations, and libraries that work in a different way than you expect them to, and version control, and collaboration with other devs, and - you get my drift.

My suggestion, for a modern, full stack JS application? Build a Shopify app. Check my profile - I'm writing a tutorial series on it now. Did I mention I was super biased? ;)

And if you're up to it, I'd like to show you the ropes and be there for the build process. Just reach out to me at hey@redcaptom.com and we'll set it up.

Remember - you're building software that will be used by people. Train in the wild, not in your sandbox.

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ganeshmani profile image
GaneshMani

Exactly. this is what I want the developers to do. at the EOD, all it matters is what kind of problem we solve for users. I feel, if someone can understand a customer's needs and provide a solution to that. his confidence level will be enormous. Thank you for the feedback. let me know if I can help from my side.

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redcaptom profile image
Red Cap Tom • Edited

Yes, exactly! I once interviewed for a FAANG company, and the interviewer mentioned the first project a developer puts out there as a "ramp". I really liked that analogy, because it implicitly states that until you've actually done it once - put yourself out there in the cold, that is - you will not get the view from the mountain. And once you're up there, it's very clear where your strengths, your weaknesses, your passions and your pet peeves lie. It's an excellent exercise in figuring out what type of developer you are.

Building something and throwing it on GitHub is like practicing on a punching bag - it's nice, it'll advance your technique, but it's not really the thing that will make you an outstanding fighter.

The real warriors spar (i.e. fight against other fighters) all the time. That's the only way you actually get good at what you do in the real world - you put yourself out there, get punched down, get back up, and repeat ad infinitum. As a former fighter myself, I can verify that the most hardcore folks I sparred with do this on the daily - and they are beasts.

To me, GitHub projects are the punching bag, and real-world problems are the sparring. I urge anyone who is starting to code to dive head first into a real world problem - even if it's fixing a WordPress plugin, which isn't "cool" nowadays - just get to work. See firsthand how software behaves out there, and you will see that a) it's just code and b) you can do it, and you can do it well.

And if you need a hand - talk to us! @ganeshmani and I are here for the assist.