Learning to code is easier than ever before. With so many options, you can find a project that suits your needs. However, some projects are better than others and will help you meet your goals faster — so how do you know which ones are? This article will cover the best ways to find coding projects for beginners and then walk through our top recommendations.
Know your languages
One of the first things you should do is make sure you understand your skill level. What languages do you already know? What languages are on your to-learn list? And what languages are necessary for a project that interests you?
Knowing the answers to these questions will help inform which projects are worth pursuing. For example, if you have no programming experience but want to learn Python and then get into machine learning with pandas, it would be better for your first project to be something like (1) creating an app that uses a machine learning library or (2) building an API with Flask/Flask-RESTful or Django REST framework.
Find a project on a standards list
You may want to start by looking at various standard lists in your search. A standards list lists companies and organizations that use similar coding languages or technologies. In this way, it can be beneficial in finding projects relevant to your skillset and interests.
However, you should know that this isn’t the only place to look for such projects—you can also find them on other websites. For example, GitHub offers a repository for open-source coding projects where users can freely use any code they find (assuming they follow all applicable licenses).
Join meetups and online communities
You can also get involved with local coding meetups and communities. If you’re not sure where to start, Meetup.com is a great place to find coding communities in your area.
Many online forums offer beginner-level programming help, such as Stack Overflow. You can ask questions about the basics of code or share your knowledge with others with similar interests.
Look for coding projects in forums
One of the best ways to find coding projects is by looking for them in forums. Forums are places where people with similar interests can get together and chat about things, and there are many different types of forums that you can check out. They might be focused on a particular topic or technology, or they may be more general-purpose, like Reddit or Quora.
If you’re new to coding and have questions, this is a great way to get answers—and if you already know how to code but want feedback on your work before submitting it somewhere else (like GitHub), a forum might be helpful as well!
You should also look at social media sites like Twitter and Facebook if you want help finding projects that suit your skill level. Since there are so many people using these networks every day, there will likely be some posts about who’s making what kind of project right now—and when someone asks, “Is anyone doing anything cool right now?” those same people will respond with suggestions for projects they think would work well with someone’s skillset (or lack thereof).
Read user stories
To find good projects for beginners, it’s essential to understand how user stories are created in the first place. User stories are a way of breaking down a problem into smaller pieces. They describe a user’s behavior regarding goals, motivations, and obstacles.
User stories can be written by anyone involved with creating software (which may include developers), but they tend to be written by people who understand customer needs and business requirements. The goal is for everyone working on a project to agree that these statements represent what users want from their product or service — even if those needs aren’t precise yet!
Set up Google alerts
Google Alerts can be a great way to keep up with the latest news in your niche. To set up alerts for specific keywords, type those keywords into Google and click on “Filter By – This week.”
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Set alerts for new posts from specific websites or blogs. You could also set an alert for new comments on a website or blog post if you want to keep an eye on how people respond to what you’ve written thee!
API projects are a great way to get started
API projects are a great way to learn, especially if you’re a beginner. To drop a specific idea: you could start by coding an exchange rates API like fxapi.com. For this, you simply have to scrape a public data source for currency data and provide it through a REST API. That really sounds like a fun challenge!
Conclusion
There are many ways to get involved in coding projects, but the most effective way is to start with a project that’s already been tested. That way you can focus on learning how to use it and not worry about finding bugs or other issues that could delay your progress.
