vincentdnl

Project ideas for developers

May 29th, 2021

    I learned programming by doing things. I have a habit of keeping a list ready for when something crosses my mind. This can occur at any time of the day or night!

    Here is the thing: I don't have time for side projects anymore. I feel like I'm done doing things for the sole purpose of learning a new technology, a language, a framework, or just practicing in general. I would only code outside my job in one situation: if I have already validated an idea, and I am sure that the project will make actual money.

    I will post here a list of ideas that I never pursued or never will. It does not mean the idea is necessarily bad (some are) or that they can't be profitable. It means that I either did not have time to validate the idea or that I don't have the willpower to pursue that idea (it might be in an area of interest that I am not that much interested in anymore).

    Anyway, these ideas can be useful for someone who is a developer, is looking for a side project idea, has time to invest in it, and want to learn by making things!

    Enjoy!

    • Release list: there are multiples things to check before releasing a product. Did you think of the analytics? Did you buy the domain name? Have you created the accounts on social networks? etc. A simple online checklist could really help!
    • Side project idea generator: a bit like a better version of this article...
    • Official papers expiration date reminder: a tool that sends you an email when your driving license is about to expire for example.
    • Surprise advent calendar: helps you create a custom page that you can send to your friends. They get a surprise message/image every day.
    • Gift helper: finding the perfect gift is hard. Most websites are just worthless lists of affiliate links. The website would help you find the perfect gift and even more, like remembering what gift you have already offered, or even keeping note of people's taste in alcohol, food, etc.
    • Percussion pads for computer keyboards: I like hitting the plastic parts of my keyboards to make a drum beat. That can be annoying for coworkers. The idea is to stick percussion pads to your keyboard that would convert the hit to an audio signal in your headset.
    • Inktober accountability tracker: Inktober is a drawing event that happens every day on the month of october. It can be really great to improve your drawing skills and creativity with a new topic every day, but you can be tempted to skip a day because you are lazy. A tool that would remind you of your laziness and keeps you accountable for your own progress would be great!
    • Producthunt meets tinder: an app that pitches you a product, and you can either swipe it left or right.
    • 90's profile: A site that takes a social media profile and transforms it so that it looks like a 90's page, with ugly gifs and colors.
    • Podcast tracker: You might listen to podcasts from various sources like websites or platforms. The tracker would tell you when a podcast is published.
    • Tinder for music jams: You play music for 10 seconds and other musicians can match with you to form a band.
    • Tweet to pic: People love to take screenshots of tweets and post them as pictures on other platforms like Reddit or Imgur. This can work for multiple sources.
    • Site builder for touring artists: Let artists create a page where they can just input their gigs and customize it!
    • Bot that tells you when your favorite artists are playing near you
    • A bot that aggressively tells you to go do sport in case you forgot
    • FAQ Bot A bot that searches through Frequently Asked Questions before annoying an actual human being
    • A barbecue that heats by mining Bitcoins
    • URL lenghtener with the longest possible domain + subdomain
    • An arcade that serves beer when you win
    • Username checker: checks the most popular social networks to see if your brand name is available as a username so that you can have the same recognizable name everywhere. Also create variations like the_..., use_..., etc.
    • Find my cofounder: there are websites that allows founders to find their CTO. I have a problem with these sites. It makes the CTO feels like he is the product on these sites. It makes me feel like I'm just on a standard job marketplace where I'm picked by recruiters. A website where founders pitch their ideas and CTO choose to apply would be great!
    • Prices hider: an extension that hides the price of products on e-commerce website so that you are not tempted to buy things just because they are on sales.
    • Startup name generator
    • Scam warning: crypto Twitter is full of scammers impersonating influencers to get money, so, a browser extension that just block tweets that are suspicious.
    • Metronome trainer: an app that gives you a BPM, and you'll have to tap your screen or your keyboard to the closest you think this tempo is
    • Transaction notifier: a service that watches one or multiple cryptocurrencies adresses and tells you when you receive a payment

    2023 update:

    • Crypto game: there was a trend where someone would create a seed, put some money on it for a prize and show images generated from the seed with AI. Another game could be to create the longest possible seed with current words and have people try to find it.
    • Json Prettifier as a Service: non-devs have trouble reading API results. A tool that lets you query APIs and auto-format the result to readable HTML would be nice for them.
    • Status code to emojis: this would be very useless but a library that translates a status code to one or multiple emojis that symbolise the error. Like 404 would be "🙅‍♂️🤷"
    • Startup blurb generator: a blurb is a document that summarize the different aspects of your company (product, features, team, problem solved, market, etc.) A SaaS that would help startups generate a clean blurb for investors would provide value in my opinion.