Latest / The Career Change Podcast with Fexingo: Switching Fields, Bootcamps, and Reskilling / How Bootcamp Grads Can Build Side Projects That Actually Impress Employers
Transcript
- Lucas: You know, I was looking at a survey from HackerRank from last year — 2025 — and one number jumped out. Sixty-eight percent of hiring managers said the quality of a candidate's side projects mattered more than their years of experience. Luna: That's a huge stat. But I wonder — how many bootcamp grads actually know what a 'quality' side project looks like? Lucas: Exactly. Because the default is to build something from a tutorial — a weather app, a to-do list, maybe a Twitter clone — and call it a day. And that's exactly what every other candidate has. Luna: Right. So what separates the ones that actually help you land an interview? Lucas: I've been thinking about this. There's a woman I know named Priya — she went through a bootcamp back in 2022, struggled for months, and then built one project that completely changed her trajectory. She built a volunteer scheduling app for her local food bank. Luna: Okay, a volunteer scheduler — that sounds a lot like a shift scheduling app, which has been done before. What made it different? Lucas: The difference was that it had real users. Fifty volunteers at the food bank used it every week. She could show sign-up numbers, shift fill rates, and feedback from the coordinator. It wasn't hypothetical — it solved a real problem. Luna: So real users trump code complexity. That makes sense. But not everyone can find a food bank to volunteer for. What if you're building something from scratch with no organization to partner with? Lucas: That's a fair point. But I think the principle still applies. You can build a project that simulates real usage. For example, build a habit tracker and then get five friends to use it for a month. Track their engagement metrics. Show how you iterated based on feedback. Luna: I like that. It's not about having thousands of users — it's about demonstrating that you understand the full lifecycle of software. From idea to deployment to iteration. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the first signal employers look for: real users, even if it's a small number. The second signal is measurable outcomes. Not 'I built a thing,' but 'I built a thing and here's the data.' How many sign-ups? How much time saved? What was the error rate before and after? Luna: That's where a lot of bootcamp projects fall short. They focus on features — 'I used React and Node and PostgreSQL' — but they don't talk about impact. Lucas: Right. And the third signal is decision-making documentation. Hiring managers want to see that you made intentional choices. Why did you pick that database? Why that deployment platform? Did you consider trade-offs? Luna: So write a short README that explains your architectural decisions. I think that's actually more impressive than the code itself for a junior role. Lucas: Absolutely. And the fourth signal is a live demo. Not a GitHub repo — a working URL. Even if it's a free tier on Render or Vercel with a cold start. If I have to clone your repo and run it locally, you've already lost my attention. Luna: That's such a practical tip. So many people forget to deploy. They treat the project as done when the code compiles. Lucas: Priya had her app running on a free Heroku alternative, and she included the link right at the top of her resume. She said three interviewers mentioned they clicked it before even reading her work history. Luna: That's the kind of story I'd want to hear more of. Do you think there's a risk of over-engineering a side project? Like spending months on one thing when you could build three smaller projects? Lucas: That's a great question. I'd rather see one solid, deployed project with real users than three tutorial clones. But I think there's a middle ground. You don't need to build the next Airbnb. You need to demonstrate that you can ship something end to end. Luna: I also think there's value in cloning an existing app — but with a twist. Like build a Twitter clone but add a feature that solves a specific problem. That shows you can work with existing patterns and innovate. Lucas: Yeah, and you can document why you chose that feature. That goes back to decision-making. Plus, cloning saves you from the blank-page paralysis. Luna: So the framework is: real users, measurable outcomes, documented decisions, live demo. Four signals. That's really concrete. Lucas: And one more thing — don't hide your project. Put it on LinkedIn, tweet about it, write a short blog post about what you learned. Priya actually got a recruiter reach out because someone at the food bank shared the app on social media. Luna: That's the network effect of a real project. It's not just code — it's a story. Lucas: And speaking of stories, I want to acknowledge something. We've been doing this show for almost 40 episodes now, and we've never run a single ad. No sponsors, no endorsements. That's intentional — we want every episode to be purely useful. Luna: Yeah, and we hear from listeners that they appreciate that. It means we can talk about whatever actually helps, without worrying about a sponsor's brand guidelines. Lucas: So if you've found this series helpful — maybe it helped you think through a career move or decide on a bootcamp — and you want to keep it ad-free, there's a simple way. You can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: No pressure at all. It's just a way for those who can and want to, to help us keep going. And we're grateful for every bit. Lucas: Okay, back to side projects. Let's talk about one more thing: the timeline. How long should a bootcamp grad spend on a project before it's 'good enough' to show employers? Luna: I think there's a risk of perfectionism. You could polish forever. What's a reasonable timeframe? Lucas: I'd say six to eight weeks, working evenings and weekends. That's enough to build something with real functionality, but not so long that you lose momentum. And the goal isn't perfection — it's a v1 that works and has a few users. Luna: And if you can't find users in that timeframe, maybe the problem isn't interesting enough. That's feedback in itself. Lucas: Exactly. The market tells you something. So to recap: find a real problem, even a small one. Build for actual people. Measure something. Document your decisions. Deploy it. And then talk about it. Luna: And if you do that, you'll stand out from ninety percent of bootcamp grads who just have a GitHub full of tutorial code. Lucas: Next time, we'll talk about how to present that project in an interview — the story you tell. But for now, start with one project and make it count.