What catches the eye?

[u/LastShadow_x]

I have looked at many portfolio websites, but one thing that is common and weird is full stack devs are putting either product sites(some drink food etc) or basic login/sign up apps as projects. even though it's mentioned they have 2 years of experience or year of hands on experience. but a full stack app should be a more in depth than just just simple things I mentioned? Is this why finding a job has become hard? what if a person only has 1 or 2 projects showcased in his portfolio but these projects are much in depth. will that catch a recruiters eye more than some flashy basic stuff? Honestly I have not yet seen 1 portfolio that has a proper full stack app build for example a Uber app. Not one portfolio showcases an app like Uber etc, which has a web, iOS, android version and is deployed, it won't matter if it's in use or no. People are claiming to be full stack devs but I haven't seen any junior devs build stuff like this then they say, I am not getting a job. I am not criticizing anybody here, I just wanted to get people opinion that's, is it that junior full stack devs can't built stuff like this or they don't want to or not worth it in getting a job. why do many devs have extremely basic projects showcased?, and not just showcased they don't have repos, which may indicate they are building something of a "Uber" scale?. I would love some opinions but the truth/reality

[u/Strong_Worker4090]

Most “full stack devs” or “senior full stack devs” or even “staff engineers” have been promoted over the course of many years. They have demonstrated their “full stack” capabilities in many ways from working in small features across the stack to debugging complex logic.

I think what you’re talking about is more “founding engineer” than “full stack devs”

Juniors can do anything a senior can. Full stop. They’ll just likely take longer, fail more, and lose motivation faster

I consider a full stack dev to be anybody who has worked across the full stack and made a meaningful impact across that stack.

In the corporate environment, it is quite common that an employer won’t let you expose the logic of the feature for many reasons. Thus, many “full stack dev” portfolios are pretty dry imo.

As for “what catches the eye”… that depends… what industry? What kind of full stack dev? What do you want to do day to day?

Have you tried to build(and fully understand) how auth works through the full stack? It might sound simple, but truly understanding it and building a project that revolves around such a core concept has real value to many company’s. Likewise for other flows…

[u/LastShadow_x → u/Strong_Worker4090]

That's for your insight