Real Python - Python side projects & getting a job

Hey there,

Where do you find inspiration for Python side projects? It's a question I often hear from Pythonistas looking to build up a portfolio they can show to potential employers. So here's a random idea for you:

How about building a robot that keeps your plants alive?

Sounds crazy, but it's literally what I saw on the front page of Hacker News a while ago:

http://www.pleasetakecareofmyplant.com

This developer took a Raspberry Pi, attached a moisture sensor and a water pump to it, and built a contraption that waters a plant in his living room.

And it gets even better...

This (stationary) robot doesn't just mindlessly water his plant based on soil moisture measurements or a fixed schedule. No. Instead it posts the moisture readings to Reddit, where people can then vote on whether or not the system should water the plants that day.

It's not just a plant-watering robot—it's a global social experiment :)

What a cool little side project...when I browsed around on the project website I immediately wanted to know what technology it was built with—

And, guess what, the whole thing is written in Python: 

https://github.com/tylerjaywood/pleasetakecareofmyplant

Python is just perfect for projects like this, where you're "glueing" together a bunch of existing functionality and libraries to make something new and creative.

In fact, this whole project just oozes creativity, skill, and inspiration:

- It solves a "real world problem" (watering plants) with the creative use of several technologies: the Raspberry Pi, web development and web scraping, using the Reddit API etc.

- It's fun, it's playful, and it actually works. This reflects back on the author—who wouldn't want to have this guy on their team?

- It has great marketing: there's a website for the project and the social component built into it is simply a genius source of (free) attention.

Now, I'm not saying any of this was planned out as a way to grab attention from potential employers. Judging from the author's GitHub profile, he's working at AirBnB in San Francisco and already has an established career as a software developer. 

But I bet he'll be getting some very friendly emails from companies wanting to interview him over the next couple of days...

So, if you're thinking of side projects to work on with the intent of building up a portfolio you can use in your job applications, following this example wouldn't be a bad idea at all.

What I want to say here is this:

You don't have to write another ORM or implement an AVL tree from scratch to show off your Python skills (although it's great if you can)—a playful side project like this plant watering robot can help you stand out just as much or more.

Happy Pythoning!

— Dan Bader