Hi.
I’m a dev with 3 YOE, mostly in ML and MLOps, and more and more I’m trying to pivot into traditional software engineering. As of now I’m trying to really learn the fundamentals of backend engineering (as opposed to the bootstrapping DIY learning attitude that I had during my ML roles towards backend engineering), and I’m learning Node.JS. I’m getting familiar with the the concepts and the syntax, and so far so good. But one thing that I really lack is the imagination of what a good side-project might be.
So I ask experienced devs here, can you recommend me some good project ideas to work on, to make myself a better dev?
The advice I usually see given is to work on a project you actually care about.
A guy I knew in college was really into rpgs, so he made a tool to store character information. Then he built it out to do dice rolls. And then to make it so other people can see the dice rolls. Sort of like DND beyond, but 10 years earlier.
When I was looking for a job, I built a tool to track my job applications. Not as fun, but it helped me brush up on the whole stack.