Beginner in IT. How to choose projects for a start
Select a technology stack
You need to scan the market, look at as many job openings as possible, and pay attention to the technologies that are mentioned in the requirements. Write them down, count the number of times the technology is mentioned in the vacancies so you can identify the most in-demand ones. Here we have a two-edged sword, say the managers of Magenta Favorita IT company. By choosing the most popular technology, you compete with more people. By choosing a less popular one, you reduce your chances of finding a job.
All your skills must be validated. How do I do that? Use them in your project. If you are proficient in two mutually exclusive technologies, you can confidently choose the more popular one. For example, in Java, you can use Hibernate or TopLink. But the former is much more popular.
If you are looking for a job for too long, you can do another project to avoid wasting time. Use the technology that is less popular in the second project. If you go for a job that uses a less popular technology, with knowledge of the more popular one, you are likely to be hired as well.
You need to scan the market, look at as many job openings as possible, and pay attention to the technologies that are mentioned in the requirements. Write them down, count the number of times the technology is mentioned in the vacancies so you can identify the most in-demand ones. Here we have a two-edged sword, say the managers of Magenta Favorita IT company. By choosing the most popular technology, you compete with more people. By choosing a less popular one, you reduce your chances of finding a job.
All your skills must be validated. How do I do that? Use them in your project. If you are proficient in two mutually exclusive technologies, you can confidently choose the more popular one. For example, in Java, you can use Hibernate or TopLink. But the former is much more popular.
If you are looking for a job for too long, you can do another project to avoid wasting time. Use the technology that is less popular in the second project. If you go for a job that uses a less popular technology, with knowledge of the more popular one, you are likely to be hired as well.
Everyone, even the most excellent specialist, once started his or her journey in the profession from scratch. Of course, everyone has thought about how to win the favour of their first employer. Together with Magenta Favorita Unipessoal LDA specialists, we learnt which projects are best for a developer who is just starting out in the profession.
Define the goal
If you have a good job and are learning programming just for fun, then do any project in any programming language, even Pascal. Write something that brings you joy. If you program for pleasure, it is absolutely pointless to discuss what technology to choose.
If you are a young programmer who has just graduated, your goal is probably to find a job as quickly as possible. You need to show your skills to your future employer, demonstrate that you are a real developer. In this case, you need to think about choosing a project.
Define the goal
If you have a good job and are learning programming just for fun, then do any project in any programming language, even Pascal. Write something that brings you joy. If you program for pleasure, it is absolutely pointless to discuss what technology to choose.
If you are a young programmer who has just graduated, your goal is probably to find a job as quickly as possible. You need to show your skills to your future employer, demonstrate that you are a real developer. In this case, you need to think about choosing a project.
Choosing a project idea
A project is, first of all, an idea. You should create a project that will potentially be useful to someone. This is very important. You should not do only educational projects. Choose something useful right away. If the application can be used by a real person to solve a specific task, then you will immediately get real requirements for it. They will be much more interesting than any invented for an abstract task.
It doesn't matter whether your first project will be monetised later on. However, you should remember that you can monetise any useful thing, but a useless one is impossible.
What kind of applications can it be? For example, a task tracker. There are a lot of such applications, but there are not enough good ones. Come up with one that you really like. Perhaps there will be people who will also like your tracker more than others.
You can also develop a recommendation service about books, films, etc. The more narrowly focused the specifics, the more chances that the app will be useful to someone.
A project is, first of all, an idea. You should create a project that will potentially be useful to someone. This is very important. You should not do only educational projects. Choose something useful right away. If the application can be used by a real person to solve a specific task, then you will immediately get real requirements for it. They will be much more interesting than any invented for an abstract task.
It doesn't matter whether your first project will be monetised later on. However, you should remember that you can monetise any useful thing, but a useless one is impossible.
What kind of applications can it be? For example, a task tracker. There are a lot of such applications, but there are not enough good ones. Come up with one that you really like. Perhaps there will be people who will also like your tracker more than others.
You can also develop a recommendation service about books, films, etc. The more narrowly focused the specifics, the more chances that the app will be useful to someone.
The developers of Magenta Favorita Portugal pointed out how ideas should not be chosen:
How to choose a project
First of all, choose an idea that inspires you. Of course, consider that the project should not only be a source of joy for you, but also be necessary for someone. It can also be a project for which you will be paid. Even if it doesn't pay much, it's still a great option:
If there is no customer, come up with an idea and implement it. Working on projects is your main activity while you are looking for a job. Focus on it and you will succeed, advise the professionals at Magenta Favorita.
- Don't write very big projects - you don't want to create another social network.
- At the same time, projects should not be too small. For example, a calculator.
How to choose a project
First of all, choose an idea that inspires you. Of course, consider that the project should not only be a source of joy for you, but also be necessary for someone. It can also be a project for which you will be paid. Even if it doesn't pay much, it's still a great option:
- you'll dive right into communicating with the customer;
- this project looks more favourable in your portfolio because you list it as a commercial project;
- you'll get real feedback for your work.
If there is no customer, come up with an idea and implement it. Working on projects is your main activity while you are looking for a job. Focus on it and you will succeed, advise the professionals at Magenta Favorita.
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