The only five full-stack projects you need to get hired

There are hundreds, if not thousands of full-stack projects that you could try. A simple Google search will bombard you with lists that have so many projects listed that it’s pretty much impossible to get started on any.

This article is a bit different.

We are only going to look at five full-stack projects.

Why are we looking at only these five?

We are a job board. These are projects that are meant to impress recruiters.

In fact, that’s pretty much how we’ve selected these projects. We speak to companies all the time and we’ve created a list of skills that these companies are looking for. The projects we’ve selected are meant to show off those skills.

For each of these projects, we’ll go through why recruiters are going to like it, what are some of the more advanced features that you should add, the technologies and tools you can use, and a high-level walkthrough of the project itself.

Finally, you’ll see that for each project, we’ve gone with a specific framework. This doesn’t mean that you have to stick to React if we mention it. You can use any framework of your choice. We’re only using specifics because having a reference framework makes it easier to explain everything.

So, let’s get right into it.

Five full-stack projects to get hired:

E-commerce website

Why will recruiters like this project?

• Real-World Application: E-commerce is a booming industry and having a project that relates directly to this sector shows your skills are applicable to real-world business needs.

• Data Handling Proficiency: E-commerce sites involve handling various types of data, including user and product data. This demonstrates your skills in data modeling, management, and security.

• UI/UX Skills: An e-commerce website needs a clean, intuitive, and engaging interface. Recruiters will appreciate your focus on user experience and your ability to translate user needs into functional design.

• Complex Feature Implementation: With features like complex search filters, shopping carts, secure checkout processes, and user authentication, an e-commerce site shows that you can implement and integrate advanced functionalities.

• Security Awareness: Implementing secure transactions and protecting user data are key aspects of e-commerce websites, providing you with an opportunity to showcase your skills in web security.

Advanced features to add to an e-commerce website project

• Complex Search Filters: These allow users to narrow down their product search based on different parameters. You'll use the filter method in JavaScript to show items that match the user's search criteria.

• Shopping Cart Implementation: This is a crucial e-commerce feature. You'll use the Redux library to manage the state of the shopping cart, adding or removing items as the user interacts with the site.

• Secure Checkout Process: You'll integrate a payment gateway API (like Stripe or PayPal) to handle transactions securely. Ensuring data is sent over HTTPS and implementing proper error handling will be critical.

• User Authentication and Authorization: You'll need to ensure that only registered users can make a purchase and access certain features. This can be done using JSON Web Tokens (JWT) or OAuth.

Technologies used for an e-commerce website project

• ReactJS for building the user interface.

• Redux for state management.

• TypeScript to bring static typing into JavaScript code.

• Axios or Fetch API for making HTTP requests.

• React Router for managing different views of the application.

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Technical walkthrough for an e-commerce website

When a user visits the site, React creates an interactive UI, rendering components based on the initial state provided by Redux.

For example, if a user is logged in (as tracked by Redux), they may see a personalized homepage with recommendations based on their past purchases.

When the user interacts with the site (like adding an item to their cart or applying a filter to their product search), these interactions trigger actions in Redux.

For example, clicking "add to cart" might dispatch an "ADD_TO_CART" action.

Redux then processes these actions in its reducers, generating a new state. For example, the shopping cart reducer might add the selected item to the array of items in the user's cart in response to the "ADD_TO_CART" action.

Once the state has been updated, React responds to these changes by re-rendering the affected components with the new state. For instance, the shopping cart component would re-render to show the newly added item.

TypeScript plays an ongoing role in this process, ensuring that the data passed around the application adheres to the defined types.

For example, if you have a "Product" type defined, TypeScript will alert you during development if you try to assign a non-existent property to a product or pass a non-Product object where a Product is expected.

For complex search filters, you could use an external library such as Fuse.js for fuzzy searching, or integrate with a backend service specifically designed for search, such as Elasticsearch.

A secure checkout process would likely involve integration with a third-party payment processor such as Stripe or PayPal. These services provide APIs that you can use to process payments securely.

User authentication and authorization would likely involve a backend service and the use of JSON Web Tokens (JWT) or similar technology. Once a user logs in, the backend service verifies their credentials and sends back a token, which is stored in the frontend application and included in subsequent requests to authorize the user.

Use this great YouTube tutorial for inspiration:

Real-time chat application

Why will recruiters like this project?

• Relevance: With the surge in remote work and online collaboration, real-time chat applications have become integral. Recruiters appreciate developers who have experience in this domain.

• Understanding of Real-Time Systems: Creating a real-time chat application shows that you understand the intricacies of real-time systems, including latency, synchronicity, and concurrency.

• Data Security Proficiency: Implementing end-to-end encryption in a chat application indicates strong knowledge of data security practices and principles, which is highly sought after in the industry.

• Scalability Skills: The capability to build a chat application that can handle a growing number of users, chat groups, and messages, suggests you have a good understanding of scalability.

• API and Backend Interaction: A real-time chat application requires substantial interaction with backend APIs and databases, so building one exhibits strong frontend-to-backend integration skills.

Advanced features to add to a real-time chat application

• Truly Instant Messaging: This means messages should be delivered instantly without any noticeable delay. This can be achieved using WebSocket technology, which allows for two-way communication between the client and server.

• End-to-End Encryption: E2E encryption ensures only the communicating users can read the messages, preventing eavesdropping from third parties. Implementing this demonstrates your strong understanding of privacy and security in web applications.

• Chat Groups and Private Chats: The ability to create different chat groups as well as one-to-one chats requires good handling of user sessions and data management.

Technologies used in a real-time messaging app

• VueJS will be used for building the user interface. Its component-based architecture makes it suitable for this type of application.

• Vuex will be used for state management, to keep track of the chat data, user data, and UI state.

• WebSocket will be used for real-time two-way communication between the client and the server.

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Technical walkthrough for a chat application

When a user launches the chat application, VueJS generates the UI, rendering components based on the initial state managed by Vuex. This state could include a list of chat messages, online users, and more.

When a user sends a message, an action is dispatched to Vuex. Vuex then updates the state to include the new message, and VueJS re-renders the chat messages component to include the latest message.

In parallel, the sent message is also transmitted to the server via the WebSocket connection. The server then broadcasts this message to all other connected clients.

When a message from another user is received from the server (also via WebSocket), it is added to the Vuex state, and the message list is re-rendered to include the incoming message.

The real-time nature of the WebSocket protocol ensures that all users see messages from others immediately, without needing to manually refresh the page or poll the server for updates.

The application could use a library like crypto-js or the Web Cryptography API to encrypt messages before they are sent and decrypt them upon receipt. The encryption keys would need to be exchanged securely between users.

The state managed by Vuex could include not just a single list of messages, but multiple lists corresponding to different chat rooms or direct message threads. The UI would need to allow users to switch between these different views.

On the server side, the WebSocket server would need to keep track of which users are in which rooms or threads and broadcast incoming messages to the appropriate users.

Here’s a great video that you can use for reference:

Online code editor Why will recruiters like this project?

• Practicality: Online code editors, such as Repl.it and CodePen, are gaining traction in the industry, so building a similar project shows practical, in-demand skills.

• Complexity: Constructing an online code editor implies a deep understanding of how programming languages operate, as well as knowledge about compilers, interpreters, and browsers.

• User Experience Focus: Offering themes and customization options demonstrates an appreciation for user experience and the importance of personalization, a valuable aspect in product development.

• Scalability Understanding: Creating a code editor that supports multiple programming languages suggests knowledge of scalable system design.

• Security Awareness: Implementing real-time code compilation and execution in a secure sandbox environment shows an understanding of secure coding practices and the principle of least privilege

Advanced features to add to an online code editor

• Real-Time Code Compilation and Execution: This means the editor should be able to compile and execute code written in it, returning any output or errors to the user in real time. Implementing this feature may involve setting up a secure sandbox environment on a server where code can be safely run.

• Support for Multiple Programming Languages: The editor should allow users to write code in various languages. This requires either multiple interpreters/compilers or a universal one that can handle different languages.

• Themes and Customizations: Users should be able to customize the look and feel of the editor, including changing themes and adjusting other UI elements like font size, tab spacing, etc.

Technologies used in an online code editor

• Angular will serve as the main framework for building the application.

• Monaco Editor, which is the code editor that powers Visual Studio Code, will be used to provide a high-quality editing experience.

• A backend server with a secure sandbox environment will be necessary for executing the user's code in a secure manner.

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Technical walkthrough for an online code editor

When the online code editor is launched, Angular takes control of rendering the user interface. It sets up the layout of the application and handles interactions from the user, such as creating new files, switching between files, or running the code.

Monaco Editor is integrated as a part of the Angular application, providing the actual code editing interface. Monaco's APIs allow it to be deeply integrated with Angular, so actions in the editor (like editing text or navigating through the code) can be handled by Angular and reflected in the Angular application's state.

When a user types code into the Monaco editor, Angular can track these changes and update its state accordingly. For example, if the user is working on multiple files, Angular could maintain the current state of each file in memory.

For real-time code compilation and execution, the application will need to integrate with a backend service. When the user decides to run their code, Angular sends a request to this service, including the current state of the code as payload.

The service should then execute the code in a secure environment and send back the results. Once the results are received, Angular updates the application state, and the UI reflects the output of the code execution.

For support of multiple programming languages, the Monaco Editor already supports syntax highlighting for many languages out of the box. The backend service would also need to support the execution of these languages.

Themes and customizations can be handled by Angular's state. The user can choose a theme or customize the editor's look and feel through the UI, and these preferences would be reflected in the Angular application's state. When the Monaco Editor is initialized or re-rendered, these preferences will be applied.

Content Management System (CMS)

Why will recruiters like this project?

• In-depth Full-Stack Knowledge: Building a CMS demonstrates an understanding of how the front end and back end of an application interact, showcasing your abilities as a full-stack developer.

• Database Management: A CMS requires a backend database to store and manage the website's content, giving you a chance to show off your skills in database design and management.

• User Authentication and Authorization: Implementing secure login systems and different user roles (such as admin, editor, and viewer roles) shows an understanding of important web security concepts.

• Customization & Flexibility: Building a CMS that can handle various types of content (like blog posts, photos, and videos) shows that you can create flexible systems adaptable to different use cases.

Advanced features to add to a Content Management System

• Multiple user roles with different permissions

• Real-time editing and preview

• Rich text editor for content creation

• Media upload and management

• Content versioning and rollback

Technologies used in a Content Management system

• Frontend Framework - React: React, a popular and flexible JavaScript library for building user interfaces, would be responsible for rendering all the CMS UI, handling user interactions, and maintaining the state for real-time editing and previewing.

• Backend Server - Node.js & Express: The backend server processes requests from the front end, interacts with the database, and returns the requested data. Express is a minimal and flexible Node.js web application framework that provides robust tools for building APIs.

• Database - MongoDB: MongoDB, a source-available cross-platform document-oriented database program, is used for storing all CMS data including users, roles, and content.

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Technical walkthrough for an online code editor

When a user opens the CMS, React generates the user interface. It presents the login screen if the user isn't authenticated or the dashboard if the user is already logged in.

When a user logs in, their credentials are sent to the Node.js & Express backend, which verifies the information against the data stored in MongoDB. If the credentials match, the backend generates a token (JWT, for example) and sends it back to the client.

The client stores the token for future authenticated requests and React renders the dashboard or content editor based on the user's role and permissions, fetched along with the user data from the backend.

Inside the content editor, as the user makes changes, React maintains the state of the content in real time, showing a live preview of the final content.

If the user decides to save their changes, an API request is sent to the Express backend with the updated content and the authentication token. The server then updates the corresponding content in the MongoDB database.

For media management, a user can upload files via a form, which is sent to the backend. The server can then store these files in a dedicated location and keep references (such as file paths) in the database.

For content versioning, every time content is updated, instead of overwriting the existing content in the database, a new version of the content is created. Users can then retrieve previous versions via the API and, if desired, revert to them.

Here’s a similar project on YouTube:

Full Stack Social Media Application

Why will recruiters like this project?

• In-depth Full-Stack Knowledge: A full-fledged social media application demands knowledge and skills across the full stack, including database management, server-side programming, client-side scripting, and user interface design.

• User Authentication: Setting up secure user authentication and account management systems is a crucial part of any application that handles user data.

• Real-Time Interactions: Implementing real-time features, like notifications or chat, shows your ability to work with WebSockets or similar technology.

• Scalability: Social media applications are designed to handle a large number of users and posts. This kind of application can showcase your understanding of performance considerations and scalability.

Advanced features to add to a social media application

• User profiles, posts, and comments

• Like, share, and follow functionalities

• Real-time chat and notifications

• User search and suggestion features

Technologies used in a Social Media application

• Frontend - React: The frontend uses React to create interactive UI components. Redux might be used for state management across the application.

• Backend - Node.js & Express: Express.js, a Node.js web application framework, is used to create an API that handles HTTP requests from the client.

• Database - MongoDB: MongoDB, a NoSQL database, stores all the user data, posts, comments, etc.

• Real-Time Communication - Socket.IO: Real-time features like notifications and chat are implemented using Socket.IO, a JavaScript library that enables real-time communication between web clients and servers.

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Technical walkthrough for an online code editor

When the user opens the application, the React front end sends a request to the Express server to fetch data, such as user information, posts, comments, etc., from the MongoDB database.

User interactions like creating a new post or leaving a comment are sent as requests to the backend, which updates the database and sends the updated data back to the frontend.

For user authentication, when a user logs in, their credentials are sent to the server, which validates them against the data in the MongoDB database. If the credentials are valid, the server creates a session or a JWT token for the user, marking them as authenticated.

For real-time features, when a user performs an action that should trigger a real-time update (such as sending a message or creating a post), the action is sent to the server, which then broadcasts the update to other relevant users via Socket.IO.

As a user interacts with the application, Socket.IO on the client side listens for any incoming real-time updates from the server and updates the state of the application in real-time using React.

For search functionality, a user's search query is sent to the server as a request. The server then queries the MongoDB database and returns the results to the client, which are displayed in the UI.

Here is a full YouTube course that you can refer to:

Conclusion

So, there we have it — five full-stack projects that’ll help you get an amazing job. Now, unlike simple projects where quantity is a big factor, you don’t have to do every one of these five projects.

In fact, just a couple of these projects executed really well will impress recruiters a lot. So, make sure you spend more time perfecting each of these projects rather than attempting to do them all.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for remote full-stack developer jobs, check out Simple Job Listings. We only list remote jobs that are verified and pay well. What’s more, most jobs that we post aren’t listed anywhere else.

Check out Simple Job Listings and find great remote developer jobs. Good luck!

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What is a full stack project?

A full stack project is where you create an application's front end (the stuff that users see) and the back end (the actual working of the app).

Examples include social media apps, online code editors, content management systems, etc.

What is the most famous stack?

The MERN stack is the most famous stack currently. MERN stands for MongoDB (the database), Express.js (server-side framework), React.js (the frontend framework), and Node.js (the premier JS web server)

Some of the other popular stacks include the MEAN Stack, LAMP stack, Ruby stack, Django stack, etc.

Is full stack better than backend?

Full stack development is better than back-end both in terms of knowledge and salaries. Full-stack developers can create entire web applications on their own and as a result, they're better paid.

What are full-stack developer skills?

Simply put, full stack developers know both, the frontend and the backend development of a web app. While the skills needed depend on the stack that they work on, some common skills include HTML, CSS, JS, front-end frameworks (like React, Angular, Vue), backend frameworks (like Express, Node, Flask, Django), database systems (like MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL), and version control systems (like Git).

You can read an in-depth article on a full-stack developer's journey here.

Can I learn full stack in 3 months?

Realistically, no. While there are plenty of courses and bootcamps that promise you that you can learn full stack in three months, the fact is that it's incredibly difficult. Practically impossible, actually. At the very least, you're going to need six months (of hard work) to get good at full-stack development.