21 Jun 2025
To me, the best way to learn is to practice. And for a web developer, what better way to practice than building a personal website? 😎 I procrastinated on my website for a long time due to a lack of time. Yeah, I can work on weekends, but I have other hobbies too! 🙈 But when I transitioned from game to web development, I spent much, much more time building applications to learn new things, and it worked wonders for me.
Well, this is the most obvious benefit you gain from making your own favorite stuff. At work, you have teammates: DevOps engineers to help with deployment, backend masters to provide anything you need, designers to craft responsive layouts... But when making your pet project, you need to do it all, and of course, deal with the problems yourself. Although it sounds frustrating at first, you'll gain valuable experience and a wider perspective on your project. 💡
Technologies change every day, and how can you taste the latest innovations with only your job? On-production projects need to be stable, you don't have the freedom to play around with the coolest tools. Building your own projects allows you to experiment with new frameworks, libraries, and design patterns without the pressure of a production environment. This hands-on experience keeps your skills sharp 🔪 and your resume fresh!
You can also try new environment setups like WSL in Windows 🐧, managing your own server on a cloud provider, or diving into domain management and DNS configurations. These are all practical skills you might not touch daily at work but are incredibly valuable for a well-rounded web developer.
Coding is my hobby, but sometimes, your company doesn't let you do what you want. And I need another place to "relax". Pet projects keep me motivated in my career by allowing me to explore topics and ideas that genuinely excite me. Whether it's a quirky UI, or a unique data visualization, your personal project is your playground to build what you love.
Beyond personal growth, a blog or personal website serves as an amazing portfolio. It's not just about listing your skills; it's about showing them. Potential employers can see your <code>, your thought process, and even your unique personality through the projects you choose to build and the way you present them. It's a living resume that speaks volumes about your passion and capabilities. 💪
While it's tempting to try and learn everything, remember to focus on what you want to be good at. Don't try to be a person who can replace anyone. For example, if you want to deepen your Front-End knowledge, leverage existing backend services like Firebase, Supabase, or a pre-built API instead of building a server from scratch with complex database management, authentication flows, or caching issues. Direct your energy towards the areas where you want to specialize and excel. 🔋
Even within a specific domain like Front-End development, to solve one single problem, there are enough technologies to make your head spin faster than a loading icon. You might want to try every new tool out there. But it's smarter to learn the main ideas first. Once you get those basic concepts, you can pick the tools that feel best for your project.
Building a personal project isn't just a side hobby, it's a powerful accelerant for your career as a Junior developer. 🚀 It forces you to step out of your comfort zone, tackle problems independently, stay current with technology and build a tangible portfolio of your capabilities. Having said that, although making pet projects helps you a lot, don't forget to focus on your job, where you'll get 80% of your enterprise-level knowledge (and earn your living, of course 💸).