Becoming a great software engineer is a lifelong journey. Landing that first job is just the first step. To get the most out of your qualifications, it’s essential to constantly hone and polish the critical technical skills needed to succeed in this highly competitive space.
It’s not often that any software engineer finds an abundance of free time to spend indulging themselves. However, there are moments when the pace of work may be slower and there is time for personal development.
When this is the case, there are many fun programming projects to choose from that can either push your knowledge and skills to greater heights or allow you to explore new, different technologies. The best of these projects will have both elements of exploration and learning.
Many people start their careers as software engineers with unrealistic expectations. It’s unusual for any junior software engineer to work with cutting-edge technologies or be involved in highly complicated projects. Often, the day-to-day tasks are menial and deal with legacy software and applications. This can lead to frustration and boredom.
More importantly, if freshly minted software engineers are not constantly broadening their knowledge base and staying abreast of changing technologies, they risk falling behind their peers and limiting their career options.
One of the best ways to make your resume stand out from the crowd and increase your attractiveness to potential employers is to have completed several software engineering projects on the side. These programming side projects are especially valuable to junior software engineers and interns.
Looking for programming project ideas? Our guide will offer creative suggestions and coding assignments that can help you apply theoretical knowledge to real-world scenarios
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What Are Programming Side Projects?
These are any software development projects or software project ideas that are pursued on your own time for personal development or recreation.
The most effective side projects will show off your programming skills and make you more valuable to recruiters and employers looking for talented software engineers. For instance, Overcode can provide resources for projects, offering a wealth of knowledge and tools for software engineers.
A great option is to have whichever of the programming project ideas you choose be specific to the industry you are working in or align it with the sector you wish to break into.
Having a few side projects on your resume demonstrates to recruiters and hiring managers the critical ability to follow through on a task. It also shows a commitment to continuous learning and personal development.
Let’s look at a few excellent programming project ideas that you can start today to develop your skills as a software engineer.
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Fun Coding Project Ideas
These programming projects for beginners are light but cover some novel ideas. Several of these software ideas will allow you to work with exciting APIs and will have you doing everything from logging sensor data to finding new backgrounds for your desktop. If you ever find yourself needing assistance or guidance with any of these projects, consider seeking programming assignment help to ensure a smooth learning experience. When working with third party APIs, it can be helpful to leverage third party API integration services that can smoothly handle the integration and ensure proper implementation.
Temperature Logger
A simple Raspberry Pi can be connected to an intelligent temperature sensor. The data can then be exported from your home or office to a database or an updated CSV file.
The data can then be manipulated or displayed in the manner you choose. There are options for reporting and tracking, depending on what you want to achieve with the temperature logger.
The suggested implementation for this side project is a Raspberry Pi, a temperature sensor, and a web app.
Daily Desktop Background
This is as simple as the description. It’s pretty easy to build a piece of software that searches for a new image and then applies it to your desktop.
This can be refreshed every day or at an interval of your choosing. Images can then be pulled from a specific set or searched more widely on the internet.
The suggested implementation here is the appropriate scripting language for your OS and the Unsplash API.
Read More: 10 Hard and Soft Skills to Put On a Resume for Software Developer Jobs
Personal Development App
Here you can build an application that sends you a short video or interactive document each day on a subject that you find interesting or intriguing. It can be programmed to send you anything from a Wikipedia page to a YouTube video.
This can be accomplished with a simple web or mobile application.
Slack Bot
Slack is a popular app used by teams across the world to communicate effectively with one another and share documents.
If you use it in your day-to-day at the office, a great idea is to build a slack bot to help you and your colleagues with some aspects of daily workflow that can be automated.
The bot can be configured to do anything from ordering coffee for a meeting to serving as a reminder for that next important presentation.
Your imagination is the limiting factor. Building an engaging, innovative Slack bot is one of the best ways to show off your programming skills in new ways at the office.
The suggested implementation for a Slack Bot is to use the Slack API.
Read More: How to Format a Resume for Software Developer Jobs
New Music Suggestion Tool
Creating a piece of software that tracks the music and songs you are listening to and then generates suggestions is one of the best coding project ideas for software developers who love their music.
Luckily, the Spotify API has all the tools you need to harvest what you have previously listened to and then create a playlist with that information.
It’s a fun way to learn more about the Spotify API and be exposed to new music you may not have had the chance to listen to without the automated recommendation of the new tool you have built.
The suggestion here is to build a wrapper for the Spotify API. The specifics of the recommendation engine are up to you and your personal preferences.
Pixel Art Generator
If you want to master a new programming language or deepen your understanding of a language you are already familiar with, a pixel art generator is one of the best computer science projects to help achieve that.
This tool can be built to sample an input image and then output pixel art using that data. Generating the pixel art using CSS is a good way to improve your front-end development skills.
Spoiler Blocker
There’s nothing worse than having to constantly avoid spoilers for your new favorite show or movie. Just steering clear of awkward conversations is often not enough, as it can be difficult to avoid accidentally seeing something that ruins your experience.
An extension to your browser that obscures all mentions of the show or movie you’re interested in seeing for the first time is an easy, fun way to sharpen your skills.
You can make this entertaining by programming the extension to replace all the references you want to be removed with something striking or funny.
Read More: When Can You Stop Calling Yourself a “Junior” Software Developer?
Movie Showtime Tool
If you have a favorite cinema, building a tool that delivers information about new movies you want to see is one of the most valuable and fun software engineering project ideas you can have.
It’s also one of the easiest ways to learn more about machine learning, as you can use training data based on your history to teach the tool more about your specific preferences. You could even create a bespoke algorithm that considers trusted reviews and critics’ scores when making new movie suggestions.
The suggested implementation for a movie showtime tool is to build a web or mobile app incorporating notifications via email or text message.
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Personal Programming Project Ideas
These ideas for software projects are centered around quality-of-life improvements that can be achieved with a bit of imagination and ingenuity.
They have real-world applications and will allow you to learn, have fun, and use your skills to make some of the more mundane aspects of daily life more enjoyable.
Weather Notifier
We’ve all been caught unprepared for cold or wet weather.
Leaving our trusty umbrella at home can be a thing of the past if we have a tool that notifies us each day of the forecast for our area.
Building a simple mobile app that harvests local weather data and then delivers it to us via a notification means that there’s no need to get caught out in the rain again.
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Collection Manager
Many of us love to collect all sorts of items we find interesting, some valuable, others only so in a personal way. Over time, it can be a challenge to stay on top of everything we have added to our collections over the years.
It is quite easy to build a mobile tool or app that keeps track of everything in our collection.
You can decide what aspects of the individual pieces should be noted. The collection manager can be configured to record the value of an object, the date it was acquired, the location where it is stored, and much more. For ensuring secure access to sensitive collection data, integrating an IAM (Identity and Access Management) solution is crucial. An IAM solution centralizes access controls, enabling configurable permissions so users only see appropriate information. Implementing robust identity and access controls via an IAM system provides an additional layer of security over precious collection data assets.
Tax Liability Forecaster
This is particularly relevant if you are a freelance software engineer.
Staying on top of your tax liabilities can be challenging when dealing with multiple clients, invoicing, and a demanding workload.
Building a simple web application that predicts how much tax you must pay at the end of your assessment period will give you a valuable tool and an exciting programming side project to add to your resume.
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Email Newsletter Tool
Most of us are bombarded with a relentless avalanche of email newsletters every day. It can be hard to find the time to go through them all to find the information that is most relevant and useful.
They ruin our inboxes with unnecessary clutter and can be a pain to deal with repeatedly.
Unfortunately, it isn’t as easy as just unsubscribing to these newsletters, as they often contain specific information relevant to our careers or interests.
Scripts connected to a mail server can be used to build a tool that takes all the information in the newsletters received weekly and delivers the vital information to us as a summary.
This is a beautiful way to save time and add a unique coding side project to your resume.
Deal Finder
We all have wishlist items that we have our eyes on. When it comes to high-value purchases, it can often be a challenge to find the best deal available to us when purchasing what we want.
A web application with built-in mobile notifications to let us know when the product or service we want is available and at a competitive price is a valuable and interesting intermediate-level coding project.
A good example is a web scraper that interrogates the product page in question and then notifies us when it’s on sale or has been re-stocked.
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Expense Tracker
It’s often hard to track the small daily expenses that can significantly impact our financial health. A great way to take back control of your finances and build an interesting software development side project is to create an expense tracker specific to your needs.
It can be as complicated or as simple as you desire.
There are options to track expenses over days, weeks, or months and to have it generate automated reports to keep you up to speed on your financial health.
If you want to build a full-blown, professional expense tracker, you may consider partnering with a software development agency. These specialized firms can handle building the expense tracker to your specifications, freeing you to focus on other aspects of your business or idea.
Restaurant Finder
Whether it’s zipping out for a quick meal when you’re too tired to cook or finding that perfect venue for a special occasion, a handy mobile app that finds and recommends new restaurants is one of the best software engineering project ideas — useful to use, fun to create, and a perfect programming project to highlight on a resume or developer cover letter!
You can decide what aspects of a restaurant the tool should consider when making a new recommendation. This can be anything from trusted reviews to its location.
If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, then you can integrate the option to automate making a reservation and then have it added to your calendar.
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What’s for Lunch?
Software engineers are busy people who often do not have the space or inclination to spend their valuable time deciding where to get lunch for the day.
Using CLI, a web app, or a mobile app to make great lunch recommendations will free up your time and take the guesswork out of what to eat daily.
You can decide what the tool should consider when making a suggestion. It can be configured to assess your specific preferences, restaurant reviews, or simply how much time it will take to be delivered to the office.
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Advanced Programming Projects Using AI
AI is becoming more prevalent across all areas of software engineering. Getting to grips with the skills and knowledge required to stay competitive in this space is vital to our continued success as software engineers. Exploring new technological horizons, such as developing AI software, can lead to innovative solutions that enhance daily life.
Luckily, it’s easier than ever to find a side project that incorporates elements of artificial intelligence.
Spam Email Classification Tool
This is one of the more advanced programming projects, perfect for mid-level software engineers and data scientists. Building your own spam email classification tool can deepen your understanding of a programming language you are familiar with or help you master a new one.
Here you will build a tool that can decide whether an email is spam or not based on the content of the email alone.
Several data sets are available for you to test the effectiveness of your new tool.
This is one of the best intermediate programming project ideas for any software engineer looking to explore the technologies that underpin artificial intelligence.
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Unbeatable Tic-Tac-Toe
There is a well-defined strategy for this Tic-Tac-Toe that can be programmed into an engine that will produce at least a draw each time the game is played.
The suggested implementation here is for a simple CLI program and makes for a brilliant first side project for software engineers interested in artificial intelligence.
Specific Chatbots
Software engineers like you are working hard to develop chatbots that respond naturally and believably. This is incredibly difficult as most people quickly notice when the chatbot’s responses are not sophisticated enough to be believably human.
To narrow the scope of what the chatbot is expected to respond to, train it in a unique area in which you already have knowledge.
This is an excellent software side project that incorporates artificial intelligence with your interests.
They can require significant investments in terms of time and work. Keeping the scope narrow means that the task of creating a lifelike AI chatbot can be tackled in the limited spare time you have.
Chess Grandmaster
Chess is one of the most challenging games to master for any person. The best players in the world spend a lifetime studying the game and playing against strong opponents to sharpen their skills and improve their results.
The recommended implementation is to leverage a Universal Chess Interface compatible GUI with artificial intelligence to create the software to take on the challenge of a human opponent.
If you’re brand new to chess and artificial intelligence, then a simple way to get acquainted with the game is to concentrate on the movement and strategy of a single chess piece in your engine.
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Games and Simulation-Based Software Project Ideas
Almost all software engineers share a fascination with game development and simulations. It can, however, be hard to gain experience in this field for those engineers wishing to pursue a career in this specialization.
Having a few advanced programming projects on your resume will help considerably when applying for that perfect position that you’ve had your eye on.
These ideas are not overly complicated and will allow you to learn the basics of game development without taking on too much workload or study.
Interactive Fiction
If you don’t want to consider the graphical elements of game development, creating a text-based interactive game is one of the best avenues for software engineers wishing to learn the basics.
Using the CLI is the recommended implementation for this project that will undoubtedly get those creative juices flowing.
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Random Name Generator
This project combines game development and machine learning to produce software that creates unique names based on an algorithm.
The generator utilizes a supplied data set to train itself via machine learning to produce a unique, random name for your favorite new character or place.
You can add additional rules to the software to include specific phrases, details, or attributes to the output. This can be achieved using the CLI and a mobile or desktop application. When embarking on your programming projects, ensure their success by utilizing reliable mobile app testing services.
Map Maker
In this project, we will be harnessing the power of procedural generation. This artificial intelligence concept is becoming more prevalent as games increase in scope and complexity.
This can be implemented with a browser-based application. The software you will engineer will be able to create a new map based on a specific small input that has limited data. This advanced programming project touches on several technologies that are just beginning to emerge.
Building an automated map maker will allow you to learn more about machine learning, artificial intelligence, and procedural generation. These are valuable skills you will need to transition to a career in game development.
Read More: 5 Ways to Stand Out & Get Noticed in Your Current Development Job
Final Thoughts
Being a successful software engineer means a commitment to lifelong learning and personal development.
As important as software engineering education, qualifications, and certifications are, some of the most valuable and practical skills of software engineering can be self-taught by doing programming projects that are practical and technologically appropriate to your career.
Recruiters, hiring managers, and HR professionals are faced with the challenge of trying to differentiate between candidates with similar skills and experience.
You can stand out from the crowd if your resume demonstrates a history of continuous learning.
Finding new and exciting programming project ideas to work on in your free time is one of the best ways to show potential employers you have the drive and curiosity to succeed in a constantly evolving industry.
Incredibly, what you do and learn on these projects can also be of immense practical value to your work or personal life.
Selecting any of the projects we have spoken about in this guide is a brilliant first step to that career change or promotion you’ve had your eye on.
