Getting started in software development could be awesome, and while you’re having fun understanding how to communicate with a computer in a way it understands is thrilling, you’ll want to do more.
Learning the basics is great, you’ll also need to build up your skills and test your understanding with a couple of projects, depending on what aspect of software development you want to focus on.

Finding the right project, to begin with, could be a little confusing, as many times you’re not sure which skill you should test first, but no worries.
Here are 10 interesting projects you can do that’ll certainly help you upgrade your developer skills.

Personal Calculator

Building your very own calculator isn’t just fun, it is a very easy project, that helps you understand how the computer looks through an algorithm(a solution to a problem).
You can build a calculator in most languages (Python, Java, JavaScript etc), which makes it a go-to project if you’re into any of these languages.

Tic-Tac-Toe game

Everyone is quite familiar with the Tic-Tac-Toe game, and building a tic-tac-toe game doesn’t just let you bring back a little childhood fun, it is also another project that strengthens your algorithm scripting approach.
Although the tic-tac-toe game can be fairly challenging, you can follow through on FreeCodeCamp’s tutorial here

Responsive Portfolio web page

Love web development? Then this is one project you’ll love. Build a responsive web page(i.e. a web page that will automatically resize itself to fit the display size of whatever device it is viewed on) that showcases your skills, experience and pretty much anything you’ll like to impress a potential client or employer with.
What makes this project fun is that it’s pretty much easy to set up, and there are no rules to design, which means you can style it in whatever manner you’re comfortable with as long as it’s responsive.

Quiz or To-do list App

Heard of OOP(Object Oriented Programming)?

A quiz app is a very simple example of it, and it’s very easy to create.
One simple way to think of OOP is adapting code to real-life situations, but obviously, there’s more to it.

Learn what OOP is, and how to explain it to a six-year-old!

Web page Clone

As you begin to feel confident in your web development skills, you then should push yourself a little by finding an existing web page of your choice and then attempting to replicate their page design.
The difficulty of this challenge is only dependent on which web page you decide to clone, but a few interesting web pages are (Airbnb, DropBox, Vogue, Apple, and Dribbble).

Quote or Meme Generator

This is a beginner exercise, but it’s another fun app you can build to have fun with your friends. It’s mainly about text and images, with a few lines of code, and you’re done.
You can also enhance your app by giving it a great design, and adding a few functionalities such as random, save, and share to it.

Unit Converter App

Also, an OOP project, creating a unit converter app, allows you to improve your understanding of Object-Oriented Programming. Don’t forget to make your app as awesome as possible by giving it great functionalities as well as design.

API usage app

Create an app that consumes an API(Application Programming Interface) i.e. create an app that communicates with another app that has access to a database.
A simple example could be an application that shows the streaming status of specific channels on Twitch.TV or that specifically gives you updates on upcoming events on GitHub.

This kind of project gives you a good understanding of how applications interact with each other, and how you can utilize already existing apps to create more awesome software.

Learn what exactly an API is.

Chat App

Having your chat app is just awesome. Though this is a little advanced project, if you’ve taken the time to build a couple of the awesome projects listed above, then your skills will be able to handle building your very own chat app.
Could you also build a P2P (Person to Person) video chat app? Why not? Go ahead and build as many kinds as you see possible (self-destructing messages, Bluetooth chat app etc.).

Conclusion.

These projects will involve many hours of concentration and dedication, but they are all possible to create if you put in the effort, and learn to look for solutions early. So keep at it and have fun while you code!

Your conscious and continuous effort to learn will prove profitable, as soon as you begin progressing from very easy to more difficult projects.