#300 - Build a Product, Not a Portfolio

The hiring bar for junior developers has changed, and pretending it hasn’t will only slow your career. 

Let's break down a simple strategy to beat the “no experience” trap: 

Ship a small product you intend to sell, get one or two real users, and use those lessons to tell stronger stories in interviews. Instead of another tutorial portfolio, you’ll learn to show autonomy, reliability, and ownership—the exact traits teams are optimizing for in tighter markets.

By the end, you’ll know how to replace vague “potential” with proof of autonomy: shipped features, hard-earned trade-offs, and stories that map directly to the realities of modern teams.

Resources:

Side project planner: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uJ5Bom0WmS410K5B2m5TkbZ7d1G9BdTaX4nKprYschI/edit

Side project video: https://youtu.be/2TWioJCIaxE

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