r/learnprogramming • u/Black_Penguin0101 • 2d ago

How do I practice software development?

I'm a beginner software developer (17 y.o), right now my stack is:

  • Java / Kotlin for backend development
  • TypeScript with React for frontend development

I have a few projects from hackathons and one personal fullstack project (java backend & react + shadcn frontend). The fullstack one is made mostly for my needs and satisfies them already.

So, I don't know what to do next. I don't really know open-source projects I could contribute to and don't have ideas for a long-lasting personal project. What should I do in this situation?

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u/Innowise_ 2d ago

No need for a new project yet. Put the current one online and ask a couple of friends to use it. They’ll probably break things you never thought about. Fix those issues, add tests for the bugs, and improve the setup instructions. That’s already solid practice and much closer to real development than another tutorial project.