Hopefully I can share some tips and guidance on how to make your first coding projects less overwhelming, or any for that matter. I know it can be a daunting task to even begin and decide what type of project to choose from. Planning is a very large part of coding, and arguably will help you become a better developer if there is thought put into why and how you are coding a project or product. Here are a few ideas to help narrow down what topic you’d like to implement.

1 What are your hobbies/interests?

Building something that is inline with a personal interest or goal you have outside of coding and software development will help you get out of the school mindset and more into problem solving mode. It helps creativity flow because you have an attachment to the topic and you can become a user of your own coding project, which makes building, iterating and ideating new features easier too! If you try solving a real problem that you have in your day to day life, later down the line you can try to gain users and monetize it.

2 Where do you want your career to go? Where do you want to work?

This is an important question because the projects you gain experience in especially if they become bigger steer you towards different technologies and fields of computer science/software development. ie. Frontend project heavy → web development, or lots of AI/ML projects will better prepare you for AI/ML Developer positions when you are looking for internships. Keep the tech stack you spend time on as a reflection of what you’ll end up talking about in interviews.

Where you want to work comes into play because positioning your experience in alignment with the languages your dream company is looking for makes you a more desirable candidate for the job. You know how to code in the language you will be expected to program in at the company or for that specific role.

The Actual Project

1 Define the Project

The first part of creating anything is planning and defining the requirements. Here are some questions to ask yourself when you are starting out:

1 What is the project? AKA What problem are you trying to solve?

Every good project tries to solve someone’s problem in some way.

2 What is the MVP? Minimum viable product is the most basic version of your product/project which you want to accomplish or learn. Ideally this should make up 1-2 features that you define

3 What are the nice to haves? The extra “features” you’d like to have

4 What does it look like completed?

2 Create a Workflow

This step I find to be overlooked because no one teaches you that this is important and a part of the software development process. But something as easy as creating a Kanban board with “to do”, “doing”, “done”, “bugs/need help” will help you better structure and keep you on track to better visualize how far along in the process and where help is needed.

With the kanban systems, cards are placed in each column. First add all of your tasks in “to do” and from there move to “doing” if you are in the process, “done” if that task is complete and “bugs/need help” if you need to revisit, ask someone or just need some time to think through the solution. Now we have to create the tasks to actually place into the cards!

3 Break Down the Project

The vital part of making projects less daunting is breaking it up into smaller pieces. It’s like breaking up an essay into the intro, body, quotes, and conclusion.

1. Identify High-Level Components:
   • Begin by outlining the major functionalities or components of your project. For example, if you're building a website, these components might include user authentication, database integration, frontend design, etc.
2. Divide into Smaller Tasks:
   • Take each high-level component and break it down into smaller, specific tasks. Use verbs to describe each task to make them actionable (e.g., "Implement user login feature", "Design database schema", "Create homepage layout").
3. Use a Task Management System:
   • Utilize a task management tool like Trello, Asana, or a Kanban board (as you mentioned earlier) to organize your tasks. Create columns for "To Do", "In Progress", "Done", and "Bugs/Issues".
4. Prioritize Tasks:
   • Determine the priority of each task. Identify which tasks are essential for the minimum viable product (MVP) and which can be considered as nice-to-have features.
5. Estimate Time and Effort:
   • Assign time estimates or complexity levels to each task. This will help you allocate your time effectively and set realistic deadlines.