Suggestions for portfolio projects?
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I'm looking to change jobs next year/late spring. One of the possibilities is leaving teaching and going into either IT or programming or something related. Since I've never really worked in that field[1], I'm trying to build a portfolio of projects I can have available on GitHub as evidence that I can actually grok this stuff.
So far, I have my Swift-based iOS app (a relatively simple calendaring/scheduling app, but that does use Core Data), a homegrown PHP/JS static-site generation/reporting suite (showing full-stack web stuff including some MySQL database work), and my (old, now) dissertation work in Python (although that's not much use without the backing data and core physics code, which I do not have nor did I write) showing NumPy and numerical work.
I'd like to branch out and do something in either C# (possibly desktop? Maybe web-side?) or Node/Angular/<insert web framework here>. I have much more experience (but no significant projects) in C#, but Node/JS is trendy.
I had the thought of making a health-tracking web app to make my life easier (basically a wrapper around an api/database that can do some basic visualizations for things like changes in weight compared to other parameters like sleep, etc). What other sorts of things would be good to show off?
I don't have a clear goal as far as type of job, although I'd prefer more stable technology and less wooo.
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In my experience, it doesn't matter what you have, as long as you can prove that you did it.
There's 2 ways to make a career in software:- Fake it and talk big.
- Make software.
The prospective employers just want some proof that it's not all hot air on your resume. Other than that, your resume takes precedence. As such, just the iOS app should be plenty. If you want to make more, consider something specific to the technology you'll want to be doing.
EDIT: P.S.:
The web-apps are easier to demo at interview than the desktop ones IIF you have confidence that your server stays up through the interview. If in doubt, do desktop.
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@acrow fortunately I have web hosting that I can use (fur a completely unrelated thing originally). Unfortunately, it only runs PHP (at least as far as I know).
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Wish I could offer a suggestion. I've had, at the upper end, maybe half a dozen interviewers even remotely interested in seeing a project. All most of them did was pick it apart.
I think the iPhone app would be the easiest to show somebody in person. As to what you'd do with an app, that's a different question. Once upon a time, I was going to use my tablet at conventions as basically a catalog of stuff that I didn't have room for in the truck. That was something practical I needed to do business better. But I never would've come up with a typical "time waster" app like FaceBook...
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@Benjamin-Hall said in Suggestions for portfolio projects?:
I had the thought of making a health-tracking web app to make my life easier (basically a wrapper around an api/database that can do some basic visualizations for things like changes in weight compared to other parameters like sleep, etc).
If your desire is to have some non-trivial code to show off, this kind of project can make sense. If you're hoping to make a "real" thing, this kind of project is probably a waste since there are so many of these already. Unless you have a new angle.
Related, be prepared to answer "why did you do that type of project?" As an interviewer I'd definitely ask that since at first glance it's bit of an odd thing to work on. But if you gave an answer of wanting to dig into a new web framework and wanted something non-trivial to accomplish with that tinkering, I'd consider that a good answer.
Since you don't really have a dev background, if you could somehow do a small dev contract project for money that would probably be good since it shows at least one person/company was willing to pay you at this time for your dev work. I don't know how that'd map into expected experience, but it's probably better than literally zero professional dev experience.
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One project I've been thinking of doing in my spare time is a queue system for condo parking, and other things related to that whole area, like booking amenities in the facility. It should be fairly easy to do, and it has some real and tangible value for both the client and the users.
Since I mostly do Java and I'm currently working on building a new java microprofile server in my spare time, I'd probably build it on top of that making it a RESTful backend so any frontend will work. And then build an app for mobile, and a webpage for desktop.
But the tech stack is whatever you think looks interesting really. You'd be going for junior positions, and if you can show you're a decent programmer you are waaay ahead of the majority of applicants.
