What makes a good portfolio/side project?

Hey!

So I wanted to share this with you really quickly along with the idea, just incase you hate my idea and want to go in a different direction haha.

A good portfolio project, in my mind, should just check a couple of boxes:

1. Non-Trivial :

If it’s from a course, or looks like it COULD be from a course, it’s probably not a great portfolio project

2. It solves a problem :

Clones of other websites are fine for practice, but I really like to see portfolio projects where the dev found a problem and built a solution for it.

** THIS IS YOUR JOB! YOU SOLVE PROBLEMS! ** Make sure your portfolio projects show that you can do that.

3. It's outside of your comfort zone :

Portfolio projects aren’t meant to be something you can easily whip up in a weekend. They should push you to learn new things. You should set a goal and try to hit it without letting your doubt get in the way.

If you can’t build that feature you want to build, THATS OKAY! You can adjust if you hit a big enough road block.

But MOST of the learning comes from attempting to push through those roadblocks. Don’t be scared of ideas that feel a bit out of reach!

4. You can talk about them confidently and with pride.

You’ll undoubtably be asked about your portfolio projects when you interview. This is after all the only experience you have so far. Make sure you’re building something you’ll be proud to tell a hiring manager that YOU BUILT!

The only thing I would be careful of however is that you aren’t making something TOO big. Counterintuitive from the above points, I know.

You don’t want this to take 6 months to build. Pick ONE problem, and try to solve that. Try not to let in too much scope creep. If you think through how you want to solve that problem and you find it will need 10-20-30 different features, dial it back.

Most great portfolio projects I’ve seen have a relatively small (say 5-10) “things” that they do, they just do them well. Sometimes even less. It doesn’t need to be a BIG project. It should just be non-trivial. It should show that you can solve problems!

You got this. Let me know if you need any help!