r/cscareerquestions • u/cheeksthefifth • 16h ago
Experienced What projects are good these days?
Might be a rant, might not, but I’m feeling kinda lost right now. I’ve got an associates degree and about two years of internship experience, but I’m still not getting callbacks. I’ve done a bunch of personal projects, but it feels like no matter how many I build, it’s never enough. Even if I can get in front of a recruiter via networking, it feels like I get shot down before getting the chance to interview.
That’s what got me thinking, what kind of project actually turns heads anymore? Making a CRUD app or even building your own neural network doesn’t really seem to cut it these days. It feels like I have to use the latest AI tech (RAG for example) in some crazy way to get noticed. For context, my side projects include a Sentence Toxicity Classifier (using a RNN), a SIEM/SOAR pipeline to test things with Splunk, a Discord music bot, and a handful of other projects I thought were pretty solid. I always figured showing that I work on stuff in my own time would help me stand out, but if everyone’s doing the same, how do I actually separate myself?
Do I really need to go all out and build a full blown website with the latest AI tech just to get a call from a recruiter? What projects are actually impressive in today’s job market? Not complaining, just genuinely curious and lost right now as im sure many of us are.
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u/wesborland1234 16h ago
I got an interview because I have “a very active GitHub and a good sense of humor” (their words).
So maybe just push an empty commit once a day and be funny on Twitter?
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u/cheeksthefifth 16h ago
Time to whip out the best jokes in my arsenal
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u/hikingsticks 16h ago
Save yourself the trouble - https://github.com/Shpota/github-activity-generator
If they're dumb enough to base decisions on a metric like that, time to pump those numbers son !
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u/lhorie 16h ago
Recruiters are attracted by household brand names and relevant experience. Hiring managers are going to want to hear about team work.
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u/cheeksthefifth 16h ago
Some of my internship experiences include Subaru (QA), Akamai (Tech Support), and Holman (Dev). I know these companies to be big in general but do you mean companies like this? Or is it more so companies like Comcast, FAANG, Banks, etc?
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u/lhorie 15h ago
Meta > Oracle > JPMC > Home Depot > Texas Roadhouse, if that makes sense. Basically the more high tech, the better.
But again, relevant experience. People might discard QA/tech support as irrelevant. And within the dev sphere, mongodb experience ain’t gonna help landing you a .NET role, for example.
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u/cheeksthefifth 15h ago
Ah, I felt like I had to since include it in my resume since I did do some form of programming in each. Also as a way to show that I'm capable of learning quickly.
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u/wesborland1234 11h ago
Sounds like you might be in my area. If you have DotNet experience, put it on your LinkedIn. I get contacted from recruiters every week or so but it’s always DotNet. No one gives a shit about my Typescript experience
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u/Special_Rice9539 14h ago
The projects should be on technologies used by the employer.
I think cloud-based projects that make use of docker containers and kubernetes to demonstrate microservice architecture is the way to go.
Demonstrating some kind of reliability mechanisms to deal with failure is also pretty cool.
I’m sure AI-based projects would stand out as well. Tbh the main benefit of the project is being able to talk through how you did it and the challenges you faced along the way.
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u/whiteh4cker 16h ago
Nothing. I have been developing Minecraft plugins. One of them has been downloaded over 3000 times, has 28 Java classes, and an active GitHub page with feature requests from the users. I put it on my resume and applied to Java developer roles, but nobody cares. I built a website using Spring and microservices, again, nobody cares. I enjoyed it but it is a waste of time.