1. A tool that helps the community you’re in
A Telegram bot for your industry, a CSV parser for a niche workflow, a Chrome extension for a tool you use daily. These rank high on Google long-tail searches and show product instincts. Examples: a Stripe receipt cleaner, a JD-to-CV matcher.
2. An open-source library
Build a small, well-scoped npm or pip package that solves one specific problem. README is the product. Twitter / Hacker News announce. Even 200 GitHub stars opens doors — hiring managers Google your name and find it.
3. A weekly blog or newsletter
One technical write-up per week on what you’re learning, for 3 months. By month 3 you’ll have 10–15 posts, recruiters Google your name and read them, and your written communication is on display.
4. Reimplementing the thing they sell
Hiring at Stripe? Build a tiny Stripe-like checkout. Hiring at Linear? Build a tiny Linear-like board. Send your demo in the application. Bold but it gets responses.
What doesn’t work
Yet-another-todo-app. Yet-another-twitter-clone. Empty GitHub repos full of tutorial copies. Five unfinished half-projects. One shipped, used, written-up project beats five half-built ones every time.