CF

Build Side Projects With 500k+ Users: Coming Up With An Idea

2h 14m 19s
English
Paid

You have spent 50+ hours refining your resume and LinkedIn profile. You have sent out over 1000 job applications. Yet, despite all your efforts, interview invitations are almost nonexistent. And with top companies, including Big Tech, it's zero. What should you do?

Why Build Side Projects?

There are many ways to enhance your career prospects, but one of the simplest, underrated, and most powerful is to create meaningful side projects. The goal of any technology company is to develop scalable products used by hundreds of thousands of users. To do this, you don’t need to work with a team—just a computer and internet access is enough.

Course Outcomes

After completing this course, you will learn:

  • What makes a side project valuable
  • Common mistakes that lead to bad ideas
  • How to generate viable and implementable ideas
  • Methods to evaluate the quality of an idea and project
  • Strategies for developing long-term projects

Transform Your Career with Side Projects

This course will guide you in generating an idea for a project that you can develop in your free time, even if you are a beginner engineer. Aim for your project to gain traction and reach 10,000+ users; this milestone can significantly enhance your portfolio's attractiveness. When your project scales to 500,000+ users, top companies, including FAANG, will likely reach out to you for interviews.

About the Author: Alex Chiou

Alex Chiou thumbnail

Alex Chiou is a US engineer (formerly at Meta and Pinterest) and a co-founder of Tech Career Growth (originally Tech Lead alongside Patrick Shyu). His teaching focuses on the career-trajectory side of working in software at large tech companies — the unwritten rules of performance reviews, promotions, project selection, and the soft-skills that compound across an engineering career.

The course catalog covers technical interview preparation (algorithm / data-structure questions and the system-design rounds at the senior level), the career-side topics around landing and succeeding at FAANG-tier companies, and the engineering-management track for developers transitioning into leadership roles.

The CourseFlix listing under this source carries 9 Alex Chiou courses spanning that range. Material is paid and aimed at engineers preparing for interviews or actively navigating the career path at large tech companies.

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#1: How This Course Works
All Course Lessons (18)
#Lesson TitleDurationAccess
1
How This Course Works Demo
14:55
2
What Makes A Project Valuable
09:26
3
The Key To A Great Project Idea
05:39
4
Finding Inspiration
04:58
5
Tech Stack Rankings
09:40
6
Your Idea Is Worthless (For Now)
04:02
7
The Alex Formula
08:29
8
The 3 Levels Of Tech
10:32
9
Single Player vs. Multiplayer
06:11
10
Keep The Stakes Low
05:55
11
Simple Is Complex
06:40
12
Do A Search
04:55
13
Look For Gaps
04:09
14
Your Superpower: Thinking Small
04:41
15
Putting It All Together: Idea Scorecard
10:50
16
Bias Towards Action
04:44
17
Just Keep Building
07:00
18
Go Deeper: Follow Through
11:33
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Frequently asked questions

What prerequisites are needed before taking this course?
This course is designed for beginner engineers and does not require advanced technical skills as prerequisites. A basic understanding of technology and access to a computer with internet are sufficient to follow along with the course material. The course focuses on generating and evaluating side project ideas rather than technical implementation, making it accessible to those new to the field.
What kind of project will I learn to build in this course?
The course focuses on developing side projects that can gain significant user traction, potentially reaching 10,000+ users. The goal is to create projects that are scalable and attractive to top companies. While the course does not specify a particular type of project, it emphasizes creating valuable, implementable ideas that can evolve to reach a broad audience.
Who is the target audience for this course?
This course is targeted towards individuals who want to enhance their career prospects by building meaningful side projects. It is particularly beneficial for beginner engineers and those who have struggled to secure interviews with top companies despite sending numerous job applications. The course provides strategies to create projects that can attract attention from major tech firms.
How does the depth and scope of this course compare to others?
The course focuses specifically on generating and evaluating project ideas rather than on technical skills or coding. It includes lessons on finding inspiration, evaluating ideas, and understanding what makes a project valuable. Unlike more technical courses, it emphasizes the conceptual groundwork needed to create projects that can scale and reach a large user base.
What specific tools or platforms will be covered?
The course does not focus on specific tools or platforms for building projects. Instead, it prioritizes the ideation process and strategies for creating scalable projects. Lessons such as 'Tech Stack Rankings' and 'The 3 Levels Of Tech' provide insights into choosing the right technology stack, but the course's primary focus is on the value and feasibility of project ideas.
What is not covered in this course?
This course does not cover the technical implementation or coding of side projects. It is centered around the ideation process and evaluating the potential success of project ideas. Students looking for hands-on technical guidance or coding tutorials will need to seek additional resources, as the course's primary focus is on conceptual and strategic aspects of project development.
How much time should I expect to commit to this course?
The course consists of 18 lessons, but the total runtime is not specified. Students should expect to dedicate time beyond the lesson material for exercises like generating and evaluating their own project ideas, as well as applying strategies for long-term project development. The time commitment will vary based on individual engagement with these activities.