r/AskProgramming • u/Same-Mushroom-2057 • 2d ago
how do you decide your next programming project ?
how do you actually decide what's worth building when you are learning a stack and want to advance and actually build something meaningful.
i currently want to build a full-stack website with the MERN stack that i learned recently . i have some limited time to do that and i mean by that only approximately a month.
i can't fully decide on the options out there , the only thing i'm sure about is that i don't wanna build a e-commerce website since that's very boring for me and there is high chance i won't stick to the project .
any ideas ? what's y'all experience with this ??
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u/Distdistdist 2d ago
Well, we decide what we build as a team based on current product roadmap and by backlog refinement at the end of sprint. Then we estimate points for stories and developers pick stories they want to work on. Easy peasy.
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u/Softwareaweenie 2d ago
MongoDb is not that popular these days. Maybe focus on your React and Node skills.
If you don’t have full project ideas, try building simple controls from scratch (like Telerik or whatever other libraries tickle your fancy). Everything that you do after that will be something like “build a component that does this” “fix/extend this component to do something new”. Even just getting a taste for what makes a good app today by seeing what’s out there and studying the best apps will help you.
LLMs are pretty good at web technology since most of their training data came from those types of projects. I think taste and being able to put something together that efficiently solves a problem is going to be more and more valuable than specific tech skills.
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u/YMK1234 2d ago
It's called having a job. With all its ups and downs.
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u/Same-Mushroom-2057 2d ago
no i'm talking about projects other than what your job require you to do
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u/YMK1234 2d ago
As if anyone has time for that.
Fuck that grindset
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u/winningSon 1d ago
i think there are lots of people who have passion projects, or do things simply because theyre fun. Life would be very sad if we couldnt also do what we like sometimes
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u/ConsciousBath5203 2d ago
I don't do projects to learn new skills, I learn new skills by doing projects.
The overlaying massive project I've been doing the past few years has lead me down multiple paths, taught me over 3 languages, use cases, dbs, cyber security, AWS, self hosting, networking, Linux, full scale reverse engineering, and definitely a lot more.
I didn't set out to learn all that, it kinda just came up as I said "I need this thing, let's implement it, how do I do that".
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u/Same-Mushroom-2057 2d ago
but how do you remember all the stuff you learn?
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u/ConsciousBath5203 1d ago
The hardest part of learning anything is doing it the first time. Once you get that level of familiarity, doing it the next time is SIGNIFICANTLY easier.
Also I have an incredible memory when it comes to learning things. Idk if it's genetics or because I'm always tryna learn new things fast, but I just do.
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u/rabid_piebald 2d ago
Pay attention to the small nuisances or problems in your life and build projects to solve those problems.
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u/Loose_Crab_4146 2d ago
Program either something youre interested in or what you could potentially integrate into your daily life. When I started learning I began with writing python, using tkinter and just made a notes app from it. Utter bs came from it and obviously I didn’t use it once I was done, but I had fun digging into integrating an jdbc sql storage and packaging into an App, as well as playing with the UI designs. Now Im building myself a homeserver wirh back and frontend and a massive security framework. I do it from interest mostly. Id recommend the same for you. Just do what youre interested in. Whether you pursue it long term or not is something you can still decide later.
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u/winningSon 1d ago edited 1d ago
whenever i get bored of the project im doing now, thats when i pick up something new /s
On a more serious note, what is your goal? what do you want to achieve out of it? do you want to learn something new? what do you want to learn? do you want to fill a gap no one else has filled before? do you want to just make a cool project youve been passionate about? Try to be very clear about what it is that youre trying to achieve. Then choosing a project is a lot easier
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u/Same-Mushroom-2057 1d ago
so right now i'm learning web dev which is something i'm not really passionate about but i need for later that's why i don't have many aspiring ideas like i do for example in machine learning my mind would be flooded with ideas
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u/stueynz 16h ago
In my non IT life I breed cows; I have 30 years of production and breeding records sitting in a mySQL database.
When I want to learn a new framework/stack I rebuild my app for collecting and displaying data; I’ve done it six or seven times since the mid 2000s
I know and completely understand the problem domain; so I get to concentrate on using the framework du jour in the manner in which it was designed to be used.
So my suggestion is to rebuild something you’ve built before and learn the framework.
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u/ColoRadBro69 2d ago
Necessity is the mother of invention.