I'm A Developer But My Side Projects Aren't Complex Enough

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Hey folks, I'm just driving across here. We're going to LinkedIn for a question that was submitted and it's on a similar theme to some things we've talked about, but I'm going to try see if I can talk about it in a slightly different way because I think it's a I think it's a good question. I think it's applicable for a lot of people. Um, it's a question that comes up all the time in general and it's really about projects on resumes and so this person had uh sent in a couple of examples of projects and really their question is like man like what the hell are people looking for? because I've been getting feedback that is along the lines of like, you know, not not complex enough, not offering, you know, real world value. Um, maybe that last one, maybe it's not framed exactly like that.

Uh, like almost like a like it's not a business kind of thing. Um, which maybe you could argue is is the same, but point is like they're getting feedback and it's like I feel like I have projects that kind of cover these things and like what what do I got to do here because it seems like the feedback is not really like things aren't aren't lining up. And I feel like this, like I said, I feel like this is relevant for a lot of people because there's a lot of people that are looking for work, whether that's new to the industry. They're switching uh they're switching jobs and right now it's very competitive. So you hear, okay, side projects, but like what do I got to put on my resume? Like how do I make it relevant? And this person had called out across their projects, they they called out a few different things that I feel like are um I think are good.

And I think one of the meta points that I'm going to try to make in this video, whether or not it is successful or not, is that like there's so much subjective opinion on on this stuff and it makes it really difficult to like say here's here's the thing that you have to do. And I just want to like acknowledge that because, you know, I'm just a guy on the internet giving advice from my perspective and you could have, you know, the next video you watch, you're going to get a completely different take on it. So, um, if you can like there might be some some reading between the lines on these things, right? So I I'll express my opinion as someone who is a hiring manager how I've looked at this kind of stuff and if someone else is giving you a completely different

take like what what are common things between that or like maybe there's something situationally I think that might be something to consider and uh you can try to apply those like lessons um to your own context which which may change over time as well. So I have tried to talk about this kind of thing from the perspective that side projects are a way to enhance what I would generally see as gaps on a resume. And I think that's why they are applicable at all different levels of software development. I think that's why they could change even between the jobs that you're applying to which ones you want to list and focus on. But um my my thought is generally that you can really lean into side projects to show here is me learning about something, here is me having experience with something that is not captured in other parts of my resume.

Because if you were looking for something specific and I don't yet have, you know, professional working experience with that, here's an example of it. Or you could even say like, I got tons of that experience and you really want me to put the nail in the coffin, look at these side projects that also do that. Like I spend a lot of time on this stuff. That should give you confidence that I'm a good candidate. So what are the types of things that you could be using to call out as gaps? And like I said, this person wrote in for their their handful of projects, and I I think that they they cover a bunch of different things.

One of them was like uh you know I I don't know if they have users for it but like they've created an app where they're trying to solve like a sol problem like for true end users deliver business value right so like that is something where it's like this is closer to being a product um do I like do I hire for that no but also like I've worked in a startup for and I think that having engineers that can look through um sort of like asks from users try to understand business value translate that into um into code I think is a very very helpful skill especially in an environment like that. Do we have other roles that you interact with that that really help facilitate that? Yes. Like we have product owners and that's a big part of their role.

But you know what makes it so that you can work really effective with a product owner when you're thinking the same way when you're aligned with them so that you can communicate uh both directions with them um more effectively. So I think that's a it's a super valuable skill to have especially in that context. Is it that I don't value that anymore? No. I think it's still a great skill to have, but I think that there are probably other skills and areas that I am more interested in. Um, and I can't expect that everyone's resume is like, you know, cranking out 110% of all the areas that I'm hoping to see. So, it's just a priority difference at this point. But I I do think that that's a very valuable skill to be able to like think about things from the perspective of business, especially in smaller companies, right?

Where you may not have dedicated roles like that, where you know the the software development process may not be, you know, to totally ironed out. Like there there's a lot of value in that. Now, how do you know that as a as a potential um candidate, right? Like that might be something that is, you know, I'm even saying, oh, at a smaller company, maybe you're applying to a smaller company and they haven't even thought about that. So, therefore, that's not even something they're going to care to go look for in a side project. Maybe there's a big company that's thinking that, right? So, I'm saying that as someone that works at Microsoft, maybe I have a colleague that is very much of a different opinion than me, right? Like, I can't I don't know that. Cool. Um, it's a big truck that was going to block us getting on the highway.

But the I guess the point of that is that that is a a set of skills that can be very helpful. And I think that there are people that are absolutely looking for that. And one of the big challenges is trying to align your projects to what people are looking for. And that could really change from place to place. One second. kind of hot or kind of cold in here. What is this person doing? There's literally no need for you to be trying to match my speed, pal. Sometimes I think that people in any type of sports car try to find opportunities to race me or something. I don't really know. Drive kind of weird around me. Um, there's another project and this is like I think a really good example. Uh, I I like this kind of thing. I've always liked this kind of thing.

uh this person has a project where they said hey like the project itself maybe not super exciting stu super stellar but but I got to do a lot of um focus on sort of like they called it like enterprise focus so like they have automated test suites they have CI/CD they have like these pipelines set up so they took something where maybe I'm not saying that the software itself is not good or useless or something like that. But it almost seems like they took something that was more simple that way and that let them focus on all these other areas. And I think this is a great example that can highlight like hey like you know maybe some of their other professional experience or some of their other side projects don't demonstrate this and someone reading their resume might be like cool this you know

this developer understands these things but uh you know we really look for people that have uh an understanding of like how uh continuous integration works or like how automated testing is going to work and like I don't really see that in their job experience and then they get to this side project and it's like oh like no this this person does know right like they have spent time doing this and I think that can be like a great reason to include something like that a great reason to have a project that looks like that like I said um when I was at a startup that would be something that I think is helpful why well because we don't have the most like polished integration pipelines. Do they need work all the time? Do I want you to be blocked on something when the pipeline doesn't work?

Absolutely not. So, I think having an understanding of that's helpful. I think that having an understanding of like regression tests and automated testing is helpful. It was helpful then. Do I think it's helpful now? Absolutely. So, like that's just a a skill area that hey, if you got that, you can call it out. Awesome. That guy's going way too fast. He passed me like I was driving 40 miles an hour. Um, and there's almost always a cop up ahead, so like, rip. Um, there was one more project they called out and this is this is one that I think gets missed all the time and back to, you know, their question of like I get feedback that says I'm not uh, you know, my projects aren't complex enough. Like I'm going to try to address some of that feedback generally at the end of this video.

But for this third project, this one in my opinion has nothing to do with um like technical complexity uh and still offers a ton of value I think on a resume and that's that they built a a project or like a basically a product on a team of people. I think it was seven people. Think about this for a second. How many junior developers do we think there are? By the way, I'm just using junior as an example here, but and that the reason for that is um for having like a history of work experience in software development. Probably pretty light, right? If you're a junior developer, maybe zero to to light. But how many junior developers do we imagine have uh essentially on their resume like just a boot camp or like college or university in like a you know a program related to to computer science in some capacity?

Like there is a lot that just look like that. How many junior developer resumes do we think look like that and then have a couple of side projects? Hopefully, I think it's less. Uh, but I would hope that we see that number going up, right? Because you don't have the professional experience, put projects on your resume, but I think that's a smaller subset. It's it's kind of surprising, right? You would think like, come on, isn't that the minimum? Like, don't we have to get our projects on our resumes? Like, nope. It's some people's resumes are basically I went to this school and like I don't have work experience yet so here it is. Um and hopefully they you know they they get some experience doing something and they can start putting it on their resume. But then out of the the junior developers who did put side projects on their resume, how many of you do you think or how many of them do you think had projects that demonstrated that they worked in teams?

I would I would wager very very very few. I think that's where sometimes some of the boot camp grads might have a bit of a a leg up if they had like a capstone project that was working in a group, but most software at companies that you're applying to is going to be built in teams for software engineers. If you're a, you know, a solo dev, a contractor, a freelancer, like you may find yourself in situations that are different than what I'm stating where you're like, "No, I I do build software alone." And cool. That's not for me to say that you don't. But most places that you're applying to where you're trying to get hired are going to be building software in teams. If you've not ever built software in a team before, there's some dynamics that you might not be familiar with. And it's not, in my opinion, it's not like you can't teach someone that stuff.

That's absolutely teachable. But what's really cool is if you can show someone that's trying to hire you, look, I have experience with this already, right? At least we're not starting from zero. And I'm like, I think that's super helpful. When you're building software in Teams, you have to you have to review people's code. You have to have your code review. You have to collaborate on designing features. You have you have people that you can reach out to to ask for help. You're going to have people that are asking you for help. The more senior you become, the more expectation there is that you are going to be helping and mentoring more junior people. There's there's all sorts of things that come up when you're working in a team, right? in a situation like this for this project that they were talking about.

I don't know this for sure, but I'm assuming the way that they set up this project to work through, I'm assuming that they had the opportunity to talk with different stakeholders that weren't just developers, right? And that's another huge advantage to be able to put on a resume. So, this project in my opinion was probably the least, you know, technically complex one that they're they're talking about. And I don't know that for sure, but I'm I'm speculating based on what they wrote. And I think that it's one of the most valuable ones that they have. So, just to round out this video cuz I'm getting close to CrossFit. I think when they have feedback that's like projects aren't complex enough or it's not like you know not demonstrating business value. Um like these are these are opinions from the places that they're applying to that might be some of the general themes that are coming up.

But um I I think that kind of like when I was talking about networking in these videos, like your side projects are not a guarantee, but I think that they're increasing the surface area for opportunity, right? Increasing the surface area for luck, so to speak. Um I I don't know. Like I feel like I I see side projects, you know, I can see people that are putting side projects down just to go learn about technologies. Project doesn't have to be complete, but I if you're trying to learn about something, what I would hope when you're writing about your project is not you're not trying to pitch me on would I use the product you're building. Like I don't give a Not to not to be rude. I don't give a because I'm not I'm not going to go use your product. That's not I'm not reading your resume cuz it's an advertisement for your side project.

Tell me tell me what you learned, right? Like that's that's what I care about. That's what you're trying to sell me on. Tell me that stuff. And so the final thought that I have here is like uh sometimes I wonder for people writing side projects on their resume, um what how are they communicating that? Oh, buddy, don't. That was the worst. Right. Someone had to slab on their brakes cuz someone turned right in front of them. Um, train of thought. Come on, brain. Turn on. It's just after 5 in the morning. So, still coming online here. Oh, how we're communicating what's being done in our side project, right? Are you are you pitching your side project or are you trying to highlight the details? Maybe you did work on something that was complex and the way you're describing it is not coming through. Maybe you did you wanted to highlight something that was demonstrating business value and that's not coming through.

How did you do that? Like did you you went and talked to users? You ran surveys. You did interviews. Um, I think that you can use side projects to highlight all sorts of different things and you can and should and perhaps how things are being communicated are not um, making that clear. So, I think this is a great question. I hope that some of that was helpful. Um, and I wish you all the best of success with your resumes. So, uh, take care.