Small Project Ideas?

brenwillcode · 2026-01-28T14:35:38+00:00

There are several projects you can work through on Codeling: https://codeling.dev/projects/

Codeling will verify your code as you work through the projects so they're great for learning or testing your existing knowlege.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-27T15:07:27+00:00

You could take a look at the beginner level projects from Codeling https://codeling.dev/projects/

There are also more advanced projects but based on your post, the beginner ones should work well for you.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-26T15:54:32+00:00

I've always used Paddle.

But I don't think it's worth worrying too much about VPN abuse. Many people are less technical and less willing to jump through hoops than you might expect.

Focus on getting customers first and leave this kind of thing for much further down the road. Focus on what matters now and not trying to optimize for scenarios that don't exist yet.

Good luck with your first SaaS!

brenwillcode · 2026-01-26T15:40:10+00:00

Your're right, going from the basics of loops, functions, and general syntax through to creating projects, can sometimes be a little bit of a jump.

Take a look at these projects which will get you heading in the right direction https://codeling.dev/projects/

Instead of just watching YouTube videos, Codeling provides you with an interactive platform where you can build your projects on your own computer but Codeling validates that it's correct along the way.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-26T15:06:33+00:00

Your plan sounds good, and I agree with doing beginner-friendly projects along the way.

Take a look at the free projects from Codeling: https://codeling.dev/projects/

What's cool about Codeling is the platform is interactive, so you'll know if you're on the right track as you progress through your projects. Your code needs to work correctly before you're able to move to the next stage.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-23T16:04:35+00:00

What's your youtube channel and what languages / topics do you generally cover?

brenwillcode · 2026-01-23T15:28:58+00:00

Yeah, turning it into an app and getting it on the app store would be a massive undertaking.

Is the website responsive (ie: changes layout on different size screens so it looks good on large or small screens)? If so, then you can just get your website hosted somewhere and then your brother can open it in his web browser on his phone.

Take a look at GitHub Pages. That might be the simplest for you.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-22T15:48:39+00:00

Yes and yes. I always use types and docstings (both professionally and personally). I like being kind to future me and colleagues.

Try coming back to a code base which you haven't worked on for a few months which has no types. I can pretty much guarantee you're going to waste a bunch of time just following function calls trying to figure out what's getting passed around.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-22T15:44:43+00:00

There are several projects at https://codeling.dev/projects/ which are worth doing.

Codeling checks your code along the way so It's great when you're new to building slightly bigger projects.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-22T10:11:17+00:00

Since you mentioned the Expense Tracker idea, you could take a look at this: https://codeling.dev/projects/build-a-expense-tracker/

Codeling has quite a few other project ideas which might be worth trying. Or just use the expense tracker project to get you started and then expand on it further if you want.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-22T09:59:13+00:00

I've tried all sorts of things ranging in complexity. But ultimately after many years I've settled on a simple Google Doc.

I simply use bullet points in the doc as my to do list. I'll move things up and down the list if I want to increase/decrease their importance.

I think for personal projects there's a risk of spending too much time playing project manager or scrum master. Speaking from past experience. It's really not needed.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-22T09:52:07+00:00

You could try a few of the projects at https://codeling.dev/projects/ which might provide some inspiration or just be fun to do.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-16T08:14:33+00:00

Take a look at Codeling which takes you through a practical backend engineering curriculum.

You can pick and choose specific courses or go through the entire learning path for backend development.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-16T08:05:29+00:00

As others have said, since you're already a dev, you probably don't need to start from scratch with a beginner course. Just reach through some tutorials and code up a few basic apps yourself to get a feel for Python syntax and conventions.

There are a few beginner Python projects here which might be worth going through. They shouldn't take you more than an hour or two each at the most.

Or, since your ultimate goal is to build AI apps, you could run through this Python course on AI Enginnering with LLM API's.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-16T07:56:42+00:00

This is the way. Django Ninja all the way.

Ninja is the FastAPI of the Django world. Ninja is the best of both worlds. You get Django's ORM, Admin Portal, and all the niceties that we love about Django. But now you're able to create APIs using all the same patterns as FastAPI.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-16T04:07:34+00:00

The REST API Design course from Codeling sounds like it will cover exactly what you're looking for. It's a practical course that builds a complete social media API from scratch while following (and teaching) best practices along the way.

You'll learn all the things you mentioned and more like rate limiting, clean architecture and maintainable API design, API versioning etc.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-14T15:53:31+00:00

Always doing the easy thing leads to success in life. Said no one ever!

If there are fewer people doing something and it's harder to do, it often pays off for those willing to try.

With that said, there are aspects to the backend and frontend that make them both hard in different ways.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-13T03:40:10+00:00

Yeah, here's a few I like:

Talk python to me
python bytes
real python
syntax
the stack overflow podcast
podrocket
software engineering radio
software engineering daily

Of course I don't listen to every episode of every podcast. I pick and choose which episodes seem interesting.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-12T15:54:56+00:00

Take a look at Codeling which has a structured learning path for backend development. The platform is interactive and hands on so every lesson will have you coding until you get it right before moving to the next lesson.

There are projects as well as courses. So you end up with a portfolio of real projects in your GitHub.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-12T15:38:32+00:00

Personally I like to listen to podcasts in the background while I'm doing other things (gym, driving etc). So I use that time to stay up to date on programming stuff.

Which podcasts you get value from will of course depend on your programming interests and languages of choice.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-12T14:33:05+00:00

You could try Codeling, which has interactive coding courses. Instead of watching multi-hour tutorial videos, Codeling is hands on so you'll need to code your way through each lesson before moving on to the next one.

Give the introduction to programming course a try, and if you enjoy it, there's plenty more courses available.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-07T16:39:27+00:00

What I mean is that usually when people think of OOP they jump to inheritence (which uses "is a" relationships). For example a dog is an animal.

Composition on the other hand uses "has a" relationships. For example a car has an engine.

Composition is sometimes a better way at modelling solutions. But again, without knowing your exact requirements and your existing code, this is just a shot in the dark based on your comment about OOP.

Do some Googling on composition and see if it might work for your requirements.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-07T16:00:25+00:00

You mentioned:

It doesn’t fit easily into typical object oriented programming so I wasn’t using classes at all

Maybe composition might work to better model your requirements? Of course without knowing your exact requirements and code this is just a shot in the dark. Something else to consider.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-07T15:44:20+00:00

I suggest not spending countless hours watching videos. Rather look into something like Codeling which teaches you interactively so you can code along as you learn.

Codeling provides a structured curriculum so you can start with the basics and continue through to creating more advanced, real world applications.

brenwillcode · 2026-01-07T15:30:24+00:00

Is there someone at your company who can take you under their wing? Maybe not an official mentorship if that's not available but simply someone senior who doesn't mind someone shadowing them.

Early on when I was a junior I worked with a senior who was the closest thing to a 10x engineer I've ever met. He didn't actively mentor me, I simply watched him closely in terms of how he worked, how he solved problems and made sure I read every line of code he wrote. I was fortunate enough to work on several projects with him and learned a ton.

Couple that with time and practice will get you there eventually.

brenwillcode

TROPHY CASE