"What should I build?"

This is one of the most common questions I hear from new programmers and for a good reason.

You spent all this time learning your skills, so you should be building things, right?

Well, there's nothing wrong with you. I even got this question a couple of months ago from a friend who is a senior developer that has been coding for over 15 years.

We all get stuck sometimes.

But the goal of this newsletter is not to be stuck.

It's to get UNstuck.

Here are 5 types of coding products you can build today.

1) This Holds Me Accountable

There is one difference between accountability and integrity:

Integrity is what you do when nobody is looking, accountability is how you respond when you know people are watching.

Unfortunately for us humans:

We tend to be way better at accountability than integrity.

That's why people are never late to work, but can't get their dishes done when they go home.

Therefore:

Accountability is valuable

If there is a way you can create software that helps hold people accountable or reminds them, then that is a worthy project!

The best way to make these apps is to allow people to connect to their friends for full visibility.

Humans calling you out is way more effective than yet another notification.

2) This Is A Better Experience

You know that weird app you use every day?

The one that you went out of your way to find?

Odds are you went out of your way to find it because it is a better experience.

If you know an experience inside and out, then you know what you wish was better about it.

Given the project, or the part that you care about, is relatively easy to recreate. Solve your own problem!

The worst-case scenario is you already have 1 customer: You.

3) This Gives Me Insight

Data is great at one thing: Telling the truth. When you look at data:

It is objectively the truth

Unfortunately, humans aren't great at telling the truth:

Even to ourselves.

Whether it is:

• Weight loss
• Finances
• Exercise
• Habits

All these become easier in the light of data. There is no hiding the fact that you binge ate 1000 calories of ice cream from properly represented data.

Whatever your favorite data to track is, make an app for it!

If you think your idea is dumb. I promise it not:

Here's a 5-star app with 50,000 reviews that tracks where you pooped

4) This Saves Me Time

There are a million and one ways to make an app that saves time.

In general, computers are great at saving time for repetitive tasks. Anything simple that a human has to do over and over.

The easiest problems to solve are in the digital world.

Here's one I solve recently:

A friend was tired of manually creating "beats per minute" playlists in his

Spotify account. It was tedious to:

• Pick a song
• Google the tempo (BPM)
• Put each song in the right playlist

The Spotify API stores tempo, but it isn't shown publicly. I created a small script for him that goes through your saved songs, gets the tempo, creates a "beats per minute" playlist, and puts the right songs in that playlist.

Saved him hours and odds are other music junkies out there want to do that too.

5) This Entertains Me

This one is the classic early "app store" app. Anything that is a game or a gimmick passes this test and they are fun to make.

Remember the beer-drinking app to drink beer from your phone back when the app store first came out?

Or the countless number of viral games (that all seemed to be bird themed?)

Don't overthink it. If you feel like building something funny go ahead and do it. Odds are even if nobody uses it, it will make a good impression in your portfolio. It's definitely something a bored-reading-reumes-all-day recruiter will remember.

________________________________________________

Hope that helps!

As always, shoot me an email at swdlodonnell@gmail.com if you want to call me names or ask me questions. Please be gentle if you call me names.

You can also book a call with me if you ever have any questions! These will only be free for a limited time.

Thank you for reading! I appreciate all of you.

Until next time!