Are you tired of building the same todo app every time you go to learn a new language or build on the skills you already have? If you are, hopefully these tips will help you in figuring out how to come up with project ideas.

Tip #1

Don’t think so hard about it. You do not need to build something huge, and in fact it doesn’t even need to be a complete project. Your project can be as simple as a login form. The biggest thing is that you learn from it.

Tip #2

Do you suck at design? Me too! You don’t have to be an amazing designer to build a practice project. One of the things I do when trying to figure out how to design my practice projects is look at sites that I think look cool and incorporate aspects of it in my own project. It can also be helpful to go on sites like themeforest, dribble or deviantart and look at the designs on there. Try to replicate one of the designs and add your own touch. If all else fails, there are tons of free templates that you can use by googling “free html templates”.

Tip #3

Build something that interests you. It doesn’t have to make money, it doesn’t have to be popular, it doesn’t have to be unique, it just needs to be entertaining for you to build. Try to think about your hobbies outside of programming. Do you like video games? sports? movies? TV shows? Build something that incorporates one of your favorite things and it will help keep you motivated throughout the project.

So with those tips, hopefully you can figure out something that you want to build. Personally, my main go to projects are a poker tournament manager and a workout log manager. There are probably tons of these things that are already built, but I really enjoy poker and working out so I have a lot of fun building them.

Let me know in the comments what you’re working on, I’d love to see what you come up with!