NATIONAL CODING WEEK: THE POWER OF PERSONAL PROJECTS

Kicking off a tech journey can be pretty daunting for some, particularly if you lack the relevant technical skills and experience. However, one effective way to bridge the skills gap and build your tech skills is through consistently working on a personal project to develop tech skills.

Yesterday my new cohort of apprentices and graduates were given a challenge during the internal bootcamp to come up with personal mini projects to implement some of the knowledge they had gained around JavaScript and API services.? It was great to see some of the wild and wonderful ideas they came up with based on their interests.?

From an earthquake tracker, to a recipe suggestion tool, a jokes distribution app, to a favourite movie service.? They really did their research to find interesting data from already available apis and incorporated them into their code and got it working.? They were only given 45 minutes to do this, and they achieved some great results.

Here are some of the benefits of personal projects and why I encourage you to use National Coding Week to seriously think about starting a personal project that you would find useful or you are passionate about to keep the momentum going:

• Consistently working on a personal project allows you to gain hands-on experience with the technology you are interested in learning. It is one thing to read about a technology or attend a training course, but it is quite another to work on a project that allows you to apply your learning in a practical context. This experience is invaluable when it comes to building your technical skills, as it enables you to develop a deeper understanding of the technology and how it works.

• Consistently working on a personal project helps you to build a portfolio of work that demonstrates your technical skills and abilities. This is particularly important when you are trying to make a career change into tech, as it can be challenging to prove your technical skills to potential employers without relevant work experience. By working on a personal project, you can showcase your technical skills and provide tangible evidence of your abilities.

• Consistently working on a personal project helps you to develop a growth mindset. A growth mindset is the belief that your abilities and skills can be developed through dedication and hard work. When you consistently work on a personal project, you are constantly challenging yourself to learn new skills and push beyond your comfort zone. This helps you to develop a growth mindset and the resilience to overcome the challenges and setbacks that come with making a career change into tech.
• Finally, consistently working on a personal project helps you to stay motivated and focused on your goal of making a career change into tech. Changing careers can be a long and challenging process, and it is easy to become demotivated and lose sight of your goal. However, by consistently working on a personal project, you can maintain your motivation and focus on building your technical skills and achieving your career change goal.

A personal project is an essential part of developing tech skills and making a successful career change into tech. By gaining hands-on experience, building a portfolio of work, developing a growth mindset, and staying motivated, you can build your technical skills and prove your abilities to potential employers.

So this National Coding Week consider starting a personal project today and kick off building your technical skills and experience based on something you actually care about.

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