Announcing Codin

Last year, I was applying for software engineering internships (as a frontend developer) for the first time. I had a couple personal projects from school assignments, but I wasn’t sure what else to build that would impress recruiters. The “projects” section of my resume sucked, to be quite frank. I had no idea how to stand out — especially as a high schooler. 

To find projects that would look good on my resume, I scoured Google, scrolled through TikTok, and spammed Reddit — all I got was the same answer: create a portfolio, design a blog site, build a web app! 

I talked to some of my other tech-geek friends, like Kho (Co-Founder and COO) and Avi (Co-Founder and CTO), and they said they faced the same problems. Their projects were definitely more advanced (I’m hesitant to admit that), but they were also struggling to showcase them in a way that would catch a recruiter's eye.

I came up with the general idea of Codin in early 2023, then spent three months doing user interviews before Kho and I actually started building the MVP. Hundreds of users faced the exact same problem we did — what projects should I create? How should I showcase my projects? What makes a good project? (all direct quotes from interviewees). 

There are a lot of hard things about showing off a developer portfolio. There are some fundamental questions that need to be answered, which never change — what role are you applying for? What skills do you need to demonstrate? What projects exemplify those abilities best? Then there's the matter of translating your work into something clear and compelling for recruiters to understand. The translation is the hardest part. Things always get lost in translation.

Maybe your projects ask a lot from the viewer in order for them to grasp the complexity. Maybe they need to dive into the code base to see the ingenuity. Maybe they just need to understand the overall vision and implementation at a high-level. Regardless, conveying the value in a way that resonates can be challenging.

That’s why we built Codin — a platform that helps you build an outstanding developer portfolio. 

With Codin, you can easily create project pages to showcase your work, get discovered by companies and other developers, receive AI-powered recommendations on improving your projects, connect and network with the coder community, and access a library of inspiring projects and ideas to help you determine what to build next. 

Since launching our private beta, we've seen great engagement from users who struggled to find inspiration for tech projects. Folks have told us how Codin helped them better demonstrate their skills to potential employers and collaborators. One user even landed an internship at NASA by finding projects on Codin. 

It's always a little scary to put your work out into the world — but there's a deeper emotion behind it — pride. Our mission is to help developers showcase the awesome projects they've built, as well as provide the tools for them to leverage their skills into meaningful opportunities.

We see ourselves as fellow builders and creators now too. We ask ourselves those same questions when working on Codin — will people find value in this? Did we translate the product well? Is this easy and intuitive to use?

But I know we're on the right track when beta users like Alex tell us:

“It feels like a playground for developers. I get to find inspiration for projects AND share my own projects. A total win-win.”

I'm proud of the solution we created and thrilled to empower more developers to effectively showcase the awesomeness they build. If you’re interested in Codin, feel free to sign up for the waitlist!