How do I standout!?

Every resume I see these days feels the same—just slight variations of the same skills and projects. Everyone’s building an AI app or chatbot as their big project. For freshers like me, without any internships, how are we supposed to stand out and land a job?

Let’s say I learn all the popular skills: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, Django, MERN stack, etc. Why would an HR even care about my resume when they’re probably looking at hundreds of others with the exact same skillset? People say, “Build unique projects to stand out.” But what kind of project can I build? Every time I think I’ve come up with something original, I Google it, and there are already advanced versions of the same idea everywhere.

I love programming, but it also has to pay the bills. I even dropped out of a good college to follow my passion for coding, and now I’m starting to regret it. I was in mechanical engineering, and I keep thinking, “What if I had just stuck with it?” At least then, I’d have opportunities in both fields—mechanical and coding as a side hustle.

But I reminded myself why I made that choice: Why spend years doing something I’m not passionate about? So I decided to go all-in on coding because it felt right at the time. Now, though, I can’t help but wonder: What if, after four years of hustling, I end up with no job?

Every resume I see these days feels the same—just slight variations of the same skills and projects. Everyone’s building an AI app or chatbot as their big project. For freshers like me, without any internships, how are we supposed to stand out and land a job?

Let’s say I learn all the popular skills: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, Django, MERN stack, etc. Why would an HR even care about my resume when they’re probably looking at hundreds of others with the exact same skillset? People say, “Build unique projects to stand out.” But what kind of project can I build? Every time I think I’ve come up with something original, I Google it, and there are already advanced versions of the same idea everywhere.

I love programming, but it also has to pay the bills. I even dropped out of a good college to follow my passion for coding, and now I’m starting to regret it. I was in mechanical engineering, and I keep thinking, “What if I had just stuck with it?” At least then, I’d have opportunities in both fields—mechanical and coding as a side hustle.

But I reminded myself why I made that choice: Why spend years doing something I’m not passionate about? So I decided to go all-in on coding because it felt right at the time. Now, though, I can’t help but wonder: What if, after four years of hustling, I end up with no job?