Stage 6 of 6 · 8 lessons · ~3 months
Build and ship your first projects
Turn skills into finished, shareable work: small programs that solve a real problem, with dependencies managed, tests on the core logic, a README and a history of honest commits.
Start: Scoping a small projectLessons· one lesson for each topic, in this order
Start with· follow one of these
- GitHub repoFreeProject Based Learning
Community maintained · Beginner
Follow one guided build in your language, then build your own without a guide
- BookFreeAutomate the Boring Stuff with Python
Al Sweigart · Beginner
Free book of practical scripts: files, spreadsheets, web scraping and email
Keep handy
Also worth your time
How to present each project: the problem, stack, challenges and results
- Build Your Own XGo deeper
When you want a harder build: a shell, a key-value store or a tiny Git, from scratch
Before moving on: Ship two projects on GitHub that solve a problem you or someone you know actually has, each with a README, tests for the core logic, a clean commit history and a two-minute demo video or GIF.
Scope every project smaller than you think, finish it, and write the README before you call it done. One finished tool with tests says more than three abandoned clones of big products, and the logic must be yours: use AI to explain an error, not to write the feature.