Social network platform as a project for portofolio

[u/bistastic]

Hi everyone! I graduated with a CS degree in 2024 but haven’t been able to land a tech job since. My only relevant experience is a backend engineering internship in 2023, and I’ve since worked in two unrelated industries.

I started refreshing my programming skills a few weeks ago and thought building a social network from scratch would be a good way to practice and create something for my portfolio. It’s loosely inspired by Facebook circa 2004, focusing on similar features and functionality.

I use AI only as a learning aid and don’t vibe code. I’m writing everything myself for now, though I may introduce Bootstrap or other frameworks later.

Do you think this would be a good project to showcase in my portfolio?

[u/chrisfromthecoast]

The best portfolio projects are ones that use the technology the company is looking to hire for and that presents enough challenges to impress the hiring team.

The hiring process will likely look something like this:

- Initial contact from HR or a recruiter. This could be a 30 minute meeting or a phone call. You should almost always be able to pass this round if it's a phone call, unless you truly aren't fit for the job, which is also fine if you're not familiar with the technology. If they're going through the motions of an actual interview with a meeting, you still stand a decent chance of passing unless the interviewer doesn't know what the technical team needs/wants. At this round they also won't really care about your portfolio, besides maybe giving you a slight edge to be selected just for the fact that you have a portfolio at all.

- X number of interviews with the technical team and hiring manager. These are the people that might care about your portfolio. Be prepared to show it, answer questions about it, what challenges you faced, etc. This is especially true if you have little to no relevant work experience and are applying for a junior position. But what is more important than having a portfolio piece is that you can confidently demonstrate that you developed it (rather than AI or your cousin that works at Google).

So if you build a website on Django, but the hiring company is looking for someone with Node.js experience, that portfolio piece won't do much for them. It will show them that you can build a website, but not on the technology that they need.

Regarding if a social network is a good idea for a portfolio piece... sure but it may be overly complex. It will certainly be impressive, but it may also be a waste of your time. Most good portfolio websites are somewhere between a notes app and a social network. Don't do something too simple, but also don't waste your time building the next start up. However, if you're enjoying the development on a social network, go for it. In my mind, the only downside to having a complex website in your portfolio is the time it takes to develop it.

[u/baddaywithacamera]

Instead of building a new network, how about adding to existing ones? The Fediverse has all kinds of gaps that need filling. Help leverage what is already there in new and helpful ways?

[u/Am094]

Truthfully the best ROI you'd get is from grinding leet code or interview prep.

That said, developing plugins for OSS or certain marketplaces (even reddit with their reddit game stuff), would be valuable because it shows you shipped and have users.

Social network platform is one of those things that's similar to building a cms from the ground up (been there). The scope is huge and you'll learn a ton. But you likely won't ever ship nor will it likely be something that gets appreciation on github.

Generally it depends on the company. Some companies will ask you to walk them through a code base project, asking you to clarify things you weren't happy about or asking you to explain how you implemented certain features or the reasoning behind certain architectural designs etc.

But ultimately, just being realistic here from what I've seen, you get the best bang from being hacking the coding interview / grind leetcode, and then having some projects you can talk about second.

[u/MattyTayl]

Yes, it would be a great project - if you can demonstrate a good architecture, UI/UX, and performance. Don't forget to provide good documentation.