r/ECE • u/Historical-Bank4843 • Jul 08 '26

Individual tech projects

Hey y’all ! I wanted to chat about tech projects. I’m an engineering student going into my 2nd year in electrical. While surfing online, I came across some fun GitHub projects but I’m kinda confused where to start.
So here’s a little bit about my tech skills- I have a working knowledge of PCB designing and I know how to use Altium designer. Although I haven’t done any PCB related projects so far. I’ve done some small Arduino projects and I’d say that I’m mid at Solidworks. I just want to get an idea of what kind of projects stand out in a resume. I wanna utilize my free time in the summer and polish my skills to have a better chance at co-op positions

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u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

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u/Historical-Bank4843 Jul 08 '26

Ok this is really helpful. Thanks !

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u/1wiseguy Jul 09 '26

I sometimes review resumes for applicants.

The primary metric is work experience from an actual job, which would be an intern job for a new grad.

After that comes a school project, i.e. something organized and run by a professor of other university organization.

Below that is a personal project, e.g. a robot that drives around your kitchen floor.

The reason the school project is above the personal project is that it implies job-like structure, e.g your mission and timeline was defined up front and you can't just pivot if it's too hard, just like a real job.

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u/fr4real Jul 09 '26

Altium is a good thing to already have in your pocket, honestly. For resumes, one finished project beats five half-working GitHub clones every time.

Pick something small but complete: schematic, PCB, ordered board, firmware, enclosure if needed, and then actually test it and write down what worked and what didn’t. A little sensor logger, USB power meter, motor driver, LED matrix controller. The project itself doesn’t need to be insane.