I was discouraged early on because I heard similar advice before I finished college - everyone said I needed to "come up with projects and build them". The building them wasn't the hard part, it was the coming up with them. I'm probably not the only software developer who does terribly with a completely open-ended assignment like "just build something" due to what may be a lack of creativity, or I don't know what, but I found it to really frustrate and almost turn me away from being a developer altogether.
I found my first development job with no personal projects to show, but I did have some algorithms and problems I had solved on HackerRank and the project I had to do for my Junior-Senior years capstone project. I was able to do a sufficient job at the coding assignment they gave me, so that was in my favor (I showed I could do projects, just not find inspiration myself). I found my second software development job with only the small amount of experience from the first job (I moved cities) and the other educational projects I mentioned.
I realize you said this isn't a "be all end all" list to getting software development jobs, but I wanted to put myself out there as an example to those who may be in the same position I was in about a year and a half ago when I started seeking my first software job out of college because reading this probably would have discouraged me. You don't NEED a fancy, dynamic self-built blog and resume page and a set of other projects that you've built and released on the Android/Apple stores. If you can demonstrate that you have the skills they need - especially soft skills like communication - your potential employer will likely overlook your "lacking" project portfolio.
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I was discouraged early on because I heard similar advice before I finished college - everyone said I needed to "come up with projects and build them". The building them wasn't the hard part, it was the coming up with them. I'm probably not the only software developer who does terribly with a completely open-ended assignment like "just build something" due to what may be a lack of creativity, or I don't know what, but I found it to really frustrate and almost turn me away from being a developer altogether.
I found my first development job with no personal projects to show, but I did have some algorithms and problems I had solved on HackerRank and the project I had to do for my Junior-Senior years capstone project. I was able to do a sufficient job at the coding assignment they gave me, so that was in my favor (I showed I could do projects, just not find inspiration myself). I found my second software development job with only the small amount of experience from the first job (I moved cities) and the other educational projects I mentioned.
I realize you said this isn't a "be all end all" list to getting software development jobs, but I wanted to put myself out there as an example to those who may be in the same position I was in about a year and a half ago when I started seeking my first software job out of college because reading this probably would have discouraged me. You don't NEED a fancy, dynamic self-built blog and resume page and a set of other projects that you've built and released on the Android/Apple stores. If you can demonstrate that you have the skills they need - especially soft skills like communication - your potential employer will likely overlook your "lacking" project portfolio.