Build Side Projects They Said

Build side projects. That is the general advice given to students who need to improve their resume.

Side projects are boring. No, I don’t want to build a website that displays the weather. I don’t care about a to-do list app. I don’t care about working with the Star Wars or Pokemon API. I don’t want to make an Instagram clone.

I don’t care about side projects.

But I avoided that facing that reality. I lied to myself. I wanted to be a competitive applicant so I had to like side projects.

People should be told to build products.

Building products is exciting. They have utility. They have purpose. If you find computer science side projects boring, switch your thinking.

Don’t build side projects. Build products.

A conversation with Jaden Banson inspired me to write this.