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Resume Strategy

Building Side Projects that Hiring Managers Actually Care About

Alex Rivera

Alex Rivera

Technical Sourcing Lead

January 14, 2026
7 min read
Building Side Projects that Hiring Managers Actually Care About
## Avoid Generic Clone Apps Most junior developers build the exact same clone projects: a simple Todo list, a clone of Netflix, or a basic e-commerce page. Hiring managers spot these instantly and swipe past them. To make an impact, your projects must solve real problems and follow professional engineering practices. ### 1. Solve Real Problems Instead of cloning existing products, build a tool that someone actually uses. Even a tiny, single-purpose tool for a local business or a niche community is 10x more valuable than a Netflix clone because: - It requires real user requirements gathering. - It deals with real-world edge cases. - It gathers real feedback. ### 2. Implement Production-grade Architecture Show that you write clean, maintainable, and secure code. A great project repository should feature: - **Comprehensive Unit/Integration Testing**: Demonstrate that you value software reliability. - **Robust Error Handling**: Handle API failures and edge cases gracefully. - **Proper Documentation**: Provide a clear README file with setup instructions, architectural decisions (ADRs), and database schemas.

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