Hi dev! We all know that to become a good dev we need to be unique in this competitive world and we all try to make new projects which helps people...
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Change your mindset from finding ideas. Find problems to solve. This might sound like mere semantics, but the former starts with you, the latter with the customer that pays you.
I've helped countless teams over the years and what these products all had in common was they targeted an industry or audience beyond developers/software teams.
If you truly want to build a business instead of coding a project, stop to think like a developer and start thinking like an entrepreneur. βΊοΈ
I never think to open a business. I just want to make great website which will help people in the real world.
Now i understand that it doesnt matter if anything is already built. I should see its problems and try to make it more better.
Thanks to allβΊοΈ
I would claim it doesn't matter all that much wether you're starting a business or building an useful website just for fun. In the latter case you don't need to think about if you can monetize the site or not, but pretty much everything else still applies.
I had a good advice once from an enterpreneurship coach: if you're trying to solve a unique problem, something no-one else has done before, there's a high risk you're solving a problem that no-one really cares about. Some problems also seem clearly useful but somehow unsolved - you may have found what the Y Combinator folks call "tarpit ideas". The solution would indeed be useful, but it also happens to be incredibly hard to pull off, for non-obvious reasons.
But don't let above deter you! Just something to keep in mind. Despite the possible pitfalls, there are also a whole lot of problems out there where a web app or some other piece of software would come useful but one hasn't been created yet, and just because no-one with the skills and the time has done it.
Exactly π―
Wooow π³ π..... I love this
Exactly ππ― you have to think of a problem to solve. After all we are devs because we solve problems
Think like a Business person and not a coder alone
I think if they were easy to find they wouldn't be unique.
I used to do the same, look for completely "unique" things (whatever that means...) and immediately discard whatever I was doing if I found anyone did the same before.
But at some point I figured this is a dumb strategy. Just because somebody did something already, it doesn't mean that there's no space for me to give it a shot.
In fact, if somebody else is working on it, it probably means you're onto something, solving some real problem that someone else has. Sometimes it's just good to build things as they come, if I can get ideas from others, that's good. If I reinvent the wheel somewhere, that's also fine.
I love the definition of an idea being a combination of two or more old ideas (yes, it's recursive, and probably the reason I love it so much π ). You can do better than others on so many levels, something could be cheaper, or have a better performance, or have a nicer UI; sometimes having less features is an advantage, make something cheaper and easier to use.
It's important to remember that projects do not have to be useful, or even solve a problem - most of the things I've enjoyed building the most certainly don't. Do anything you like! Explore ideas, make art with code, make a dumb game, make music... go nuts!
Did you worry about your Lego models being unique? Let your creativity run wild. You'll enjoy it more and you might find the spark of a big idea while you're playing.
On that note please check out this dumb game I am working on - BattleCompare
Please do not consider this comment as I am trying to promote my game. Actually I am, but this is secondary, primarily I am desperately looking for feedbacks and reviews, which will boost my confidence to work more efficiently on further plans I have with this project.
Thank you β€π
I will keep it in mind @jonrandy π
I think what makes something unique is not just the idea or the problem it solves, but how it is solved. Most likely, for every idea that comes to your mind, you will find an existing product or see people discussing it. But what truly matters is how it is built, how it is presented, which platforms it targets, the UX it offers, and how it is marketed.
Do you think Facebook was the first social platform? Was Google the first search engine? None of them were. The key is solving a problem in a different way. And as a developer, it's important to move beyond just building a product and expecting it to succeedβthinking like an entrepreneur is crucial.
Find a problem that you or someone else has, and build something to solve it.
Look out for unfinished projects, like my Contact Form Inbox Report Mailer for WordPress, trying to add a missing feature, giving up probably at the same point where others did.
There are enough problems and challenges to be solved beyond to-do-list apps, movie database clones, or solutions looking for a problem. You could also look at popular but understaffed open-source projects with too many open issues.
It's ironic that I had the same question in mind, only to discover someone else had already asked it. I love the responses from others that I learned after joining work. Great question! Keep exploring.
@svijaykoushik There are still some devs who have the same question and i hope this post will help them π
You know why this question raised in my mind? It because i am looking to start building my portfolio after completeing react js and in many portfolio reviews i have heard that you should try to tell that how you are different from other devs.
And that time i though that if i want to be different from other dev, i should try to make a project that no one has created. And that the reason for asking the questionπ
I am happy that many people commented their answers and their experiences βΊοΈ and i am suprised that many people read this post from google. Maybe they had the same problemπ
I see your point, and I think it's a great one! I definitely learned that I don't have to come up with something completely unique or try to clone a popular app to learn something new. I can simply focus on solving my own problems, and that can be a fantastic way to learn.
For example, I created a shell script to categorize all the files in my downloads folder based on their type and then move them into separate folders. This was a fun little project that helped me learn a lot about shell scripting.
If you are to be different from other devs, how do you consider yourself a developer.
There is only one question here Where does a project idea come from? Project Idea emerges from observations It arises from the needs or desires of the people around you.If you were a software developer, how would you do the same project?If you want to produce a final product, you must first provide the raw materials and the recipe for the product.At this point, the experience you get from the book you read, the experience you get from talking to people, the experience you get from your own experiences, the expectations and desires of those around you are important. Everything you see in your life can be turned into a project, just record everything you see.
Try to solve one of your own problem and be your own first user. Hope it helps.
Well what I do is, instead of finding unique, I try to incorporate ideas from basic stuff and just build an idea out of it, for example, a PHP social media app I was once working on, I incorporated a "post meme", "post joke", "post quote", "post", "post photo", "edit image", all this were the basic features it had, yes they might not be unique but to me they were, finding unique ideas is very easy, look into the easy world and you'll find a tiny bit of a needed uniqueness and there it is!! Just code and cook your project, a note app (does it have an AI integrated summary system into it or a translation system to translate to other languages or maybe even a subtle problem that you can find a way to solve, and yes, you are the uniqueness, not the project or the idea!!!
Lakshita, great post. I am building something to help people to start running and get healthier just out of my passion for running.
Connect with me if you would like to contribute and make a difference. Write to me in info@spxpert.com
There's an overabundance of unique ideas that haven't been made. Unfortunately, you'd have to focus on underserved communities whose niche needs have never been met. Then you risk not being able to fund it. However, if you connect strongly enough with such communities, and provide a genuine need in an effective form, they will find the means to pay you.
Some risk factors are:
@bernardigiri I was talking about app or website project idea not about business. It was my mistake I didnt specify correctlyπ
I felt the same way until one appeared, then another, but they were there all along. The key for me was talking to small-medium businesses about their pain points. Then I POC to MVP to monetization via a subscription model. You know the drill...
See, Non-IT related small businesses can't afford developers and cloud architects at 100k+/y and many times can't afford the very expensive enterprise software and talent to use them this complicated software that typically covers wide variety of business and industries. So by developing a small SaaS solution to fix one type of business pain point for say $69/mo cancel any time/No commitment, they are all in! And it's better because it's focused and easy to use unlike those big expensive enterprise software. You just solve ONE problem, really well.
You're right when you say it's been done before, but in my opinion it's been overly done.
Sorry, I hesitate to mention my solutions and industries as this post might attract too much copycat competition.
Is just like saying no other social media should be created because Facebook already exists or no mail application should be created because Gmail or yahoo exists.
In every existing idea there is a hidden unique idea that does not exists.
So as developers if a solution already exists and yet it inspires us to make the same we should identify a part that is unique and implement it, that becomes our marketing points.
God help us all.
Hi, don't look for uniqueness first, look for problems that you can solve or use Github to contribute on open source projects. These provide a great motivation to keep on developing on projects and collaboration makes you a good developer too.
If it's for learning purposes it doesn't need to be unique, in fact, it's likely more 'marketable' as a portfolio or in interviews etc, if it's "similar to XYZ".
If it's because you want to ultimately monetise it or grow it as a product in its own right, it still doesn't necessarily have to be unique. Just needs 'something' that differentiates it in some way (e.g. there are a billion 'todo list' apps, with their different pros and cons, a billion JS frameworks with different quirks, etc).
Just keep putting stuff out there and getting feedback from real users and the success will come off the back of responding to that feedback.
The word βuniqueβ can be misleading in this context. Why focus on building something completely unique? The most successful entrepreneurs didnβt set out to create something never seen beforeβthey identified a problem or unmet need and addressed it. Chasing uniqueness is often a rabbit hole rooted in perfectionism. It keeps you stuck in doubt, searching endlessly for the βperfect ideaβ that doesnβt exist.
Trust me, Iβve been there. One question I always reflect on is: βDo you think Picasso painted with the goal of fame and fortune? Or did he create art because he loved it?β Likely the latter. The same applies hereβgo for an idea, even if itβs only slightly different from existing solutions or solves a problem in a way that resonates with you.
Start small. Ask yourself: βWhatβs the simplest version of this idea I can build in less than a month that conveys its essence?β Build that. Share it with your network, gather feedback, and iterate. Even if it doesnβt take off, it becomes part of your portfolio, makes you stronger, and gets you one step closer to your next idea.
I wish someone had told me this when I was younger.
In Ecclesiastes the bible says there's nothing new under the sun.
You can try to solve the problems that you come across in your daily life, a recent problem I observed is that Chrome browser don't have a shortkey to go back to the active tabs navigated by the user, it has short keys only to navigate forward or backward, you can try to propose this feature in chrome github open source repo if it is a open source for anyone to contribute.
No backward delete on the Mac keyboard... Some one should fix that!! haha
Steve Jobs said "Think different".
Go on apps pages and search negative comments.
Find easy but all idea unique popularity take time.
You are right. I never thought that way @ben. Thanks for advice π
Do something with AI, like below one, What you think ?
Below is my recent project. Appreciate your feedback and support. :)
dev.to/shaijut/pro-in-flow-boost-y...
I have been working with Drupal recently after leaving it for a few years. Noticing that things have changed quite a bit since version 7. Now at version 11, a lot of the modules that were quite popular and have features that clients now look for are abandoned long ago or are no longer maintained.
So, I have been recreating those modules to work with Drupal 11. I guess it isn't "new" ideas but bringing old ideas back to life.
Make friend from other disciplines.
I actually have few from my subject no one ever build it, I learn to code few years and will take degree this year.