We asked industry experts for their perspectives on the importance of personal projects for tech development. Here are examples of personal projects that benefited their skills or careers. Discover practical approaches and creative solutions that have driven the success of groundbreaking projects.
- Building an Indie Mobile App
- Creating Cleanspeak and FusionAuth
- Developing a Generative AI Chatbot
- Constructing a Trading Bot
- Developing Hickery Music Platform
- Building a Production System Simulator
- Creating a Custom Web Scraper
- Building a Real-Time Chatbot
- Developing MrScraper Web Scraping Tool
- Creating an Automated Expense Tracker
- Building a RAG-Based Analytics Assistant
Building an Indie Mobile App
One project that significantly boosted my technical development skills was building my own indie mobile app, which has grown to over 6,000 monthly active users. What started as a personal tool to experiment with iOS widgets and learn SwiftUI turned into a full-fledged product used by thousands of people.
Initially, my goal was simple: build a lightweight app that displayed cryptocurrency prices for P2P markets. It was meant to be a learning exercise, especially since working at a large tech company doesn’t always offer opportunities to use the latest frameworks like SwiftUI.
After releasing it, I started receiving real feedback and feature requests. One key request was to aggregate prices across multiple platforms to show the best offers. This meant going beyond the mobile app—I had to build a backend from scratch. I chose Vapor (a Swift backend framework) and dove into learning how backend services work. I set up PostgreSQL for data storage, integrated Redis for caching, handled multithreading for performance, and implemented security measures to protect sensitive data.
I also had to learn how to process real-time data, manage background jobs, and send push notifications. It was an intense, end-to-end experience where I wore many hats: iOS developer, backend engineer, product manager, and even customer support.
This project taught me how to think holistically about software development—from user experience and architecture to deployment and maintenance. It was the most hands-on learning experience I’ve had and pushed me to grow far beyond what I would have learned through tutorials or isolated tasks.
Yehor Chernenko
Senior Software Engineer, Uber
Creating Cleanspeak and FusionAuth
Personal projects have been instrumental in my tech development journey, especially in understanding gaps in tech markets. For instance, my work on Cleanspeak, an online content moderation platform, started as a personal project when I noticed a gap in managing online interactions securely and efficiently. This venture honed my coding skills and deepened my understanding of real-world tech challenges.
The experience gained through Cleanspeak directly led to founding my company. While building Cleanspeak, I realized the complexities companies faced in authentication, which drove me to create a scalable login solution custom for developers. Working on these projects not only expanded my tech skills but also shaped my entrepreneurial path, emphasizing how personal projects can align with market needs and lead to innovative business opportunities.
Brian Pontarelli
CEO, FusionAuth
Developing a Generative AI Chatbot
Personal projects play a crucial role in skill development. Gaining hands-on experience is essential to mastering any skill, especially in software development, where practical experience holds more value than theoretical knowledge. Not everyone gets the opportunity to work in all areas of interest within their role, so personal projects help bridge this gap. They allow individuals to explore new technologies at their own pace. For skill growth, try starting small projects with the latest technologies; it’s a great way to build confidence and gain experience.
In early 2023, my curiosity about applications like ChatGPT led me to explore Generative AI and LLMs. I started a project building an LLM chatbot using Claude 1 and integrated ElasticSearch for Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). Although the application’s efficiency wasn’t perfect, it significantly boosted my confidence in building LLM applications. This experience was crucial in shaping my career in the GenAI/LLM space and enabled me to lead engineering teams in developing robust GenAI/LLM applications.
Pavan Kumar Adepu
Software Development Manager, Amazon.com, Inc.
Constructing a Trading Bot
I find personal projects, even if they are just pet projects, extremely important for the self-development of a software engineer.
When working on a project, many developers reach a stage where the project is stable, and most of the learning shifts to domain knowledge and project knowledge. Without denying the importance of this kind of knowledge, we must acknowledge that in order to stay competitive in the current market, engineers should continuously grow in technology as well. The best case is when engineers create something for their own use, as it drives them to continuously improve the project.
At an early stage in my career, I wanted to build my own trading bot, thinking of it as a silver bullet. I had some knowledge of how trading platforms work and already had some programming knowledge. I created my first bot, and it was okay. But I saw that it had potential for improvement, which forced me to learn more about topics such as low-latency programming, stock exchange APIs, etc. As my bot became more and more complex, I decided to cover it more intensively with tests, making sure new features would not affect any functional and non-functional requirements.
The logical next step was to automate the process of releasing new versions, which led me to dive deep into CI/CD pipelines.
As a result, my pet project helped me gain knowledge in a variety of technologies, which later helped me to receive a great offer on a project building an automated commodity trading platform for one of the biggest companies in this domain.
Danil Temnikov
Software Engineering Team Lead, EPAM Systems
Developing Hickery Music Platform
Building Hickery changed everything for me. What started as a side project in my University of Bucharest dorm room in 2010 became a five-year obsession that shaped who I am as an engineer.
I was young and ambitious: I wanted to build “something like Spotify, but better.” My algorithm analyzed Facebook likes and shares of YouTube songs to predict what music people would love. Looking back, we were naive about the challenges, but that naivety pushed us to solve problems I wouldn’t have dared approach otherwise.
With just two of us coding, I couldn’t specialize. One day I’d be optimizing database queries, the next designing UI elements, then tweaking matching algorithms or setting up batch processing for our collaborative filtering system handling 600K songs. We were constantly in over our heads, and it was the best education I could’ve asked for.
The real breakthrough wasn’t technical. It was psychological. I developed this strange comfort with not knowing how to solve problems while stubbornly trying again and again. Some of our hardest challenges took months of failed attempts before we found solutions. This persistence became my secret weapon.
Then came the Ubisoft interview. I was 25, with no formal experience beyond internships and my startup. Yet somehow, they offered me a senior engineer position. I was shocked; I didn’t even consider myself senior! But my years building complex systems from scratch had taught me things that typically take a decade in traditional roles. I became their youngest senior engineer, though I felt like an impostor.
Those first months were rough. My manager eventually pulled me aside with a warning: ask more questions or we’ll have to let you go. That was a wake-up call. The adaptability I’d developed through Hickery kicked in, and I shifted gears. Within months, I’d become their most valuable player. Even years after leaving, they kept trying to lure me back.
Hickery’s story isn’t over. I recently rebuilt https://hickery.net as an AI Music Playlist Generator—a nod to its origins but with modern technology. That’s the beauty of personal projects: they evolve as you do, without the constraints of corporate roadmaps.
The tech industry claims to hire for specific skills, but what they’re really after is how you approach the unknown. Personal projects like Hickery don’t just build your resume—they build your problem-solving muscles. And those never become obsolete.
Mircea Dima
CEO / CTO & Founder, AlgoCademy
Building a Production System Simulator
Personal projects have been my gateway to mastering unfamiliar areas, often translating into unexpected advantages in my professional work. One standout example was when I built a simulator replicating the production systems of a team I was interviewing with. Not only did it impress the hiring team—securing me the job—but it also gave me a deeper understanding of their infrastructure, uncovering nuances even some long-time team members weren’t aware of. This experience reinforced my belief that hands-on learning through personal projects is one of the most effective ways to accelerate tech expertise.
Rajesh Pandey
Principal Engineer, Amazon Web Services
Creating a Custom Web Scraper
Personal projects are one of the best ways to level up in tech because they allow you to experiment, fail, and learn without constraints. Unlike work projects, where priorities are dictated by clients or managers, personal projects give you the freedom to explore new technologies, solve real problems, and build something you’re genuinely passionate about. They also serve as a portfolio—showcasing your skills beyond a resume.
One project that had a huge impact on my career was building a custom web scraper for automating market research. I wanted to analyze industry trends but found existing tools too expensive or limited. So, I built my own using Python, BeautifulSoup, and Selenium, eventually integrating it with a simple Flask dashboard. This project not only taught me backend automation and data visualization but also landed me freelance gigs when I shared it online. More importantly, it gave me hands-on experience that translated into better problem-solving at work.
For anyone in tech, personal projects aren’t just side hobbies—they’re proof of your curiosity, initiative, and ability to execute. Whether it’s an open-source tool, a portfolio website, or a simple automation script, every project pushes you forward in ways that formal education or work alone can’t.
Patric Edwards
Founder & Principal Software Architect, Cirrus Bridge
Building a Real-Time Chatbot
Personal projects are incredibly important in tech development because they offer a hands-on approach to learning and innovation that often goes beyond what formal education or structured work environments provide. They allow you to explore new ideas, experiment with emerging technologies, and develop problem-solving skills in a low-risk setting. When you work on projects that genuinely interest you, you not only deepen your technical knowledge but also cultivate creativity, perseverance, and adaptability—qualities that are essential for thriving in the tech industry.
For instance, I once embarked on a personal project to create a simple chatbot that integrated with various APIs to provide real-time weather updates, news headlines, and even tailored recommendations based on user input. Although it began as a modest experiment, the project required me to dive into several areas: natural language processing, API integration, and even front-end design. I encountered and overcame challenges such as troubleshooting unexpected issues, optimizing performance, and managing the overall user experience. This hands-on work not only honed my technical skills but also enhanced my ability to think critically and adapt quickly to new problems. Ultimately, this experience enriched my practical knowledge and boosted my confidence in tackling complex projects, reinforcing the idea that personal initiatives are invaluable for continuous learning and growth in technology.
Alok Ranjan
Software Engineering Manager, Dropbox Inc
Developing MrScraper Web Scraping Tool
In my experience, nothing accelerates learning faster than building something for yourself—something with no deadlines, no clients breathing down your neck, just pure exploration.
For me, that project was MrScraper. I did not start it as a business. I started it because I was frustrated with web scraping. Every time a website changed its structure, my scripts broke. Proxy management was a nightmare. I thought, “There has to be a better way.” So, I built a tool that could adapt to site changes, automate proxy rotation, and extract data without needing manual coding. At the time, I had no idea it would turn into a full-fledged web scraping platform used by businesses worldwide.
That is why I always tell developers: “Don’t wait for permission to build something. Just start.” Personal projects push you to solve real problems, and that is where the best ideas come from. Even if they don’t turn into businesses, they make you a better problem solver, and in tech, that’s everything.
Cahyo Subroto
Founder, MrScraper
Creating an Automated Expense Tracker
Personal projects are invaluable for tech development because they offer a risk-free environment to experiment, learn new technologies, and push creative boundaries. Unlike work assignments, personal projects allow developers to explore ideas freely, solve real problems, and build something meaningful outside of structured requirements. They also serve as a strong portfolio piece, demonstrating initiative and hands-on expertise to potential employers or clients.
One personal project that benefited my career was building an automated expense tracker using Python and APIs. It started as a way to organize my own finances, but in the process, I honed my skills in data processing, API integrations, and automation. When discussing the project in interviews, it showcased my ability to apply technical knowledge to real-world use cases, ultimately leading to more opportunities in fintech-related projects.
Sergiy Fitsak
Managing Director, Fintech Expert, Softjourn
Building a RAG-Based Analytics Assistant
Personal projects have been instrumental in my journey as a technologist. They’re where creativity meets curiosity, and the pressure of perfection is replaced by a hunger to explore, fail, and learn. In the fast-evolving world of tech, especially data science and AI, personal projects are more than just resume-builders—they’re sandbox environments for testing new ideas, mastering emerging tools, and shaping one’s unique point of view.
One of the most impactful personal projects I’ve built was a RAG-based analytics assistant, which eventually evolved into a fully-fledged platform at my workplace. It began as a hack week experiment. The core idea was simple: what if any stakeholder could ask a business question in plain English and instantly get an SQL-generated answer, complete with charts, without needing to know the underlying data model? I wanted to democratize data—not just give access, but also contextual understanding.
I started by connecting a few key data tables to a basic LLM pipeline, adding retrieval to help the model “remember” schemas and definitions. But the magic happened when I added an agentic flow—breaking down the question into steps: intent detection, document retrieval, prompt customization, SQL generation, result visualization, and refinement. It didn’t just answer queries; it thought through them like a data-savvy colleague.
What began as a weekend project soon gained traction. We used it for multiple POCs across teams. Eventually, it became a central tool that could answer funnel performance questions, track loan milestones, and visualize lead conversion trends—no manual SQL required. I even pitched it at a company-wide innovation showcase, and it received recognition from senior leadership and the CTO.
More than the technical depth—LangChain, FAISS, embeddings, SQL parsing—it was the act of building that taught me the most. It sharpened my understanding of LLM behaviors, forced me to optimize prompt engineering under real-world constraints, and exposed me to challenges in retrieval accuracy, hallucination handling, and user experience design.
Most importantly, this project reminded me that innovation doesn’t always start with a roadmap. Sometimes it begins with a question: what if…? And personal projects are where we dare to answer that.
Arjun Bali
Senior Data Scientist, Rocket Mortgage
