What are good projects for a frontend developer??

Here are two lists in response to that question ( turned up on a google search of your question, there are lots more - give it a go) :

Project Ideas for Front-End Developers:
http://www.portfoliotips.co/portfolio-project-ideas/
https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-good-projects-for-a-person-to-learn-front-end-development

Most importantly, build the thing that seems the most fun and interesting. Almost any project you choose will challenge you to learn more as you go, especially during the testing phase, when you can't figure out how to get it to work in Internet Explorer.

Hi Troy,

You said: "I think the problem for me is that I never really had any direction."

From that statement I am diagnosing you don't have a "how do a develop good front end projects" issue,

but rather a "how do a manage my life" issue (of which

"how to I become a good front end develop" is only a sub-task) .

---

Like everything else in life worth doing it requires time.

Do you have waaaaaaaaaaaaay to much time on your your hands?

Great!

Then you should have no trouble at all devoting 160 hours a week to learning

all you can and looking at every single web page and

front end project in existence (on the Internet).

---

On the other hand...

if you actually need to eat, sleep and have some assemblance of an offline life,

then I've got bad news for you:

"You are going to have to practice some measure and degree of time management."

---

You said:

"I never really reached out and spoke to anyone about the industry"

So how do you know which projects you should include a portfolio

(whose main purpose I assume would be to get you noticed/hired for a job)?

That's the real question!!!!

There are many people on Treehouse who could make up front end

projects up the ying yang (til the cows come home),

but "amateur-ish" projects just tell recruiters:

"I'm not read for 'prime time" --I need a few more years (and a few more hundred projects)

before I've got the necessary 'chops' to do what you might want to hire me for.."

---

I agree with mkmk there are thousands of ideas for front end project online.

Pick one - hopefully something that is interesting to you

so you follow through all the way to the end,

and make it the best project your skill level permits.

Then do it again (iterate) over and over.

Eventually (perhaps way way down the road) you start to see the quality starts to improve.

It may even start to get easier.

If it does that usually means you need to 'step up' the level of your projects and challenge yourself more.

Eventually you may realize:

"I don't have time to ask questions one the TeamTreehouse forum

because I'm too busy making my dreams happen."

...