I made the mistake of trying to build my own SAAS application as my 2nd project, and now have a 35% completed SAAS app that is very hard to improve upon due to complexity.
Now I’d like to follow a more structured set of projects, like FCC. But I’ve read that having a weather app may not be ideal when applying for junior dev positions.
Is this true or is the concern about having a cookie cutter portfolio overstated?
Sufficient to start, but not sufficient to end. Find what you are passionate about. If it exists, improve it. If it doesn’t, make it.
I would aim to have more complex projects than the weather app in your portfolio when you start applying for jobs. The projects listed under the Curriculum > Coding Interview Prep > Take Home Projects are closer to what employers generally look for in a portfolio. Most interviews involve a practical/take home project component that will test your ability to build a client that talks to a server/api somewhere.
It’s great you started a SASS project! Put it on hold for now, knock out some FCC projects, and re-visit it once you have some more experience. It’s a great way to apply the things you learn to something other than the projects suggested by FCC.