Published on Fri May 30 2025 17:52:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) by Pratham Ghaywat
4 Rules for Building Portfolio Projects That Don’t Suck
Your portfolio is probably trash. And I’m about to tell you why.
Everyone builds the same boring CRUD apps. Todo lists, weather apps, calculators. Your recruiter has seen a thousand of these, and frankly, they’re getting tired of pretending to be impressed. It’s time to build something that doesn’t make hiring managers want to delete their LinkedIn account.
Here are four rules that will actually make your portfolio stand out in a sea of generic React apps.
1. Add a Ridiculous Twist
Take any normal app and give it personality. A shopping list app? Boring. A shopping list app that judges your life choices? Now we’re talking.
Example: Your app shows “Pizza → Really? Another pizza this week? Your arteries are crying.”
Suddenly your basic CRUD app becomes memorable. The twist is everything. Other ideas:
- A habit tracker that celebrates your failures with confetti
- A budget app that speaks only in movie quotes
- A note-taking app that writes like different historical figures
The technical implementation stays the same, but now you’ve got something that makes people smile (or cringe) instead of scroll past.
2. Build Something That Doesn’t Exist
Stop rebuilding Instagram for the millionth time. Build stuff that SHOULD exist but somehow doesn’t.
Example: A Developer Dictionary where you type “hoisting” and get an instant, jargon-free explanation without scrolling through 47 Stack Overflow answers and three Medium articles about JavaScript’s existential crisis.
Why doesn’t this exist yet? I honestly don’t know. But now it can be yours.
Other unbuilt ideas:
- A regex builder that actually makes sense
- A meeting cost calculator that shows real-time burn rate
- A documentation search that works across your entire tech stack
These projects solve real problems developers face every day. That’s portfolio gold.
3. Build Your Own Simplified Version
Yes, Git exists. No, you shouldn’t try to replace it. But you SHOULD build a simplified version that proves you understand the core concepts.
Build a mini-Git with just the essential features:
- Initialize a repository
- Add and commit files
- Show commit history
- Basic branching
You’re not trying to compete with GitHub. You’re proving you understand version control beyond git add . and git commit -m "fix".
This approach works for any complex tool:
- Mini-Docker with basic containerization
- Simplified Redux for state management
- Basic compiler for a toy language
Show you understand the fundamentals, then move on.
4. Build AI That Actually Solves Problems
Stop gluing ChatGPT to random things and calling it “AI-powered.” If you’re using AI, make it solve a real workflow problem.
Bad AI integration: “Chat with your PDF files!”(Bro you are just giving the file contents to ChatGPT API and make him talk with that context) Good AI integration: A research agent that actually saves you time.
Here’s how a proper AI research workflow looks:
- User asks a question
- AI extracts relevant keywords
- System queries multiple research APIs (arXiv, Google Scholar, etc.)
- AI summarizes and synthesizes the findings
- Present unified, actionable results
Now your AI actually improves productivity instead of just existing to impress your relatives at Thanksgiving dinner.
The Reality Check
Your portfolio needs to tell a story: “This person solves real problems creatively.”
Not: “This person can follow a YouTube tutorial.”
Build apps with personality. Build things that fill actual gaps. Build simplified versions of tools you use daily. Build AI that genuinely helps people get work done faster.
Most importantly, build something that makes the person reviewing your portfolio think “I want to work with this person” instead of “Next.”
Getting Started
Pick one rule and run with it. Don’t try to build the next unicorn. Build something small, weird, and useful. Polish it until it shines, then move on to the next one.
Your future self (and your bank account and the senior dev overseeing you) will thank you.
Now stop reading blog posts about building projects and go actually build something.
Written by Pratham Ghaywat
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