The Projects That Got Me Into Google (tips for software engineering projects)

[@clem]

(Edit as of 05-10-2019: here's a tutorial I made for my Pathfinding Visualizer: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6TXpZl_fa2el80 ) (Edit as of 15-10-2019: here's a tutorial I made for my Sorting Visualizer: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pne7iqyjabyVocU ) This video is pretty long, so here are some timestamps for your convenience: - 0:00 | badass card trick for smashing of the like button - 0:28 | introduction - 1:37 | project #1 intro - Pathfinding Visualizer (link below) - 2:57 | project #1 deep dive - Pathfinding Visualizer (clementmihailescu.github.io/Pathfinding-Visualizer/ ) - 6:33 | 5 things that make great software engineering projects - 8:42 | project #2 - Sorting Visualizer (clementmihailescu.github.io/Sorting-Visualizer/ ) - 10:50 | project #3 - Oak Programming Language (repl.it/ETv1/561 ) - 14:12 | project #4 - Momentum Chrome Extension Clone - 17:25 | conclusion

[@indiansoftwareengineer4899]

next video topic- please tell how you got these ideas from because most of the time we make "CRUD" applications web apps and yours are "out-of-the-box thinking" projects. and how you started building them...

[@codingwithzhia]

Thanks for sharing! These are awesome sauce stuff 👍🎉

[@SajeelCodes]

*Video Request* : plz make a video on how to park the bike in the Google Parking XD

[@algorithmimplementer415]

Why did you choose to call your language oak? :D

[@SajeelCodes]

@@algorithmimplementer415 because 37% of Ex-Google Algo-Experts do that

[@brianevans4]

Five markers of a good project: 1. Very visually engaging 2. Wow factor 3. Interactivity 4. Easy for someone to understand 5. Did you learn something while making it

[@asurp7173]

Yeah, not something like 1k+ lines of code on github, without clear desriptionwhere only you know whats going on

[@mindblower113]

What's wow factor?

[@趙熙寧]

@@mindblower113 something that amaze people

[@ilyassoirgane3054]

@@趙熙寧 pppppppp0p00p

[@dinkleberg794]

Who else is embarrassed by how insane these projects are compared to ur own?

[@rozzero9664]

duh no wonder google hired him. Its would take me years to be like this holy shit

[@danieldawson8018]

Yea....I made a social networking site, but frameworks and libraries do all the heavy lifting. Definitely feeling motivated to learn more visualization tools.

[@danieldawson8018]

@@chocolatezt I agree with all but his pathfinder visualization. For that early in his programming career, it looks great and is relatively complex. If he made something like that now it would be less impressive for sure, but the video is about his portfolio at the time he got the google job, and tips for projects others might have.

[@yellowflashgaming9237]

Me too what embarrassing me is he's a math major and went just a boot camp

[@maybeJace]

Any project is better than no project

[@FunkL0chx3]

he just called me stupid for 17 minutes

[@lifecodesher5818]

seriously mann

[@sanketprasad2532]

😂😂

[@sumanth5087]

😎

[@SuperstarFx]

Lmaoo

[@tedisetiandi_]

Lmaoooooo😂

[@cassiopeiaeatssnacks]

Clement: Own programming language Me: *ah yes, another weather/todo/web app*

[@themindhelp9584]

🥺🥺🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@mohammadhijazi400]

Thanks man, you just gave me a 17:46 min video that explains in details why I'm not being hired by google in this lifetime. Saved me the time of applying, really thanks😅

[@bogdant.8599]

Same, here bro

[@yxngboypolo]

Bro don’t let this discourage you. If you put the time in to learn then you can reach this point. At the end of the day it’s just problem-solving skills.

[@victorchris5567]

If you are just starting out, please do not ditch your CRUD project because of these mind blowing Algo projects. Complete your "beginner" project , then move up to something more challenging and so on. Eventually you will arrive here. Btw, you are a genius Clement

[@thosamnorlha1229]

Hello, I’m a first year cs student, we’ve been coding with java and using javaFX until now, what would you recommend to do during this summer holiday ? Every time I have a project in mind, I am too unexperienced... I tried to make an app using flutter and fire base but everything seems to be out of reach, I am always so lost that I give up. Do you have any suggestions? Maybe it would be best for me to take a machine learning with python class during summer ?

[@mymoomin0952]

@@thosamnorlha1229 I'd recommend making the absolute most basic things possible first. These projects in the video are very cool but before you can do a path-finding visualiser you've got to learn how to do building blocks like animations. For learning e.g. flutter try making an app that does nothing but launch and show you a landing page. Try making one where you press a button and the app tells you what button you pressed. Try making a simple calculator. Then try making the calculator look good and you've got a basic project you can show people when you come back from the holidays That kind of progression can be v powerful for learning. Try and do stuff that's just one step outside of your current abilities and before you know it you'll walk a mile

[@hil449]

@@thosamnorlha1229 yea man, start with basic stuff. These 4 projects are not the only projects that clement ever did. These are the absolute BEST ones he's ever done. Im sure he made a lot of crappy projects back on the bootcamp. You dont have to start with something mind-blowing. I'd say you shouldn't start with something so difficult

[@ilyesmilyesm2576]

be aware man fb may fire you if your channel got big x)

[@Xellos976]

Rip techlead

[@SajeelCodes]

Fb may fire you. Your wife may leave you x)

[@eb3433]

That's not the reason he got fired. You have to read between lines.

[@ilyesmilyesm2576]

@@eb3433 I know it may not be the true reason he generally mixes between serious staffs and joking; . . after using your super power of reading between lines can you tell us what was the reason?

[@eb3433]

Ali Ilyes MANSOUR You’ll get there bro!

[@AniVerseChannel]

Dude, your projects are extremely clean and well thought out! Good job!!

[@dtpietrzak]

I've watched about 5 videos of yours over the last few days, and I gotta say, you are great. Thanks man!

[@clem]

Appreciate it!

[@arnavrawat9864]

Making an interpreter is like going to the moon for me.

[@GGI159]

Good luck making transpiler then

[@chrisparcel3652]

explaining card trick: doublelift, card is on top, after he shuffles, card is still on top, then card pulled out, doublelift to reveal king, when he lifts the king, the 3 is under it, then he spins it off camera, revealing 3:)

[@LegendaryLooter]

very simple

[@stevenli3933]

We NEED a tutorial for those projects. damn...

[@datacourier2944]

One of the things I am not sure is mentioned is seeing: 1) that you can do a bigger project and accomplish it on your own 2) seeing how you structure things in your projects (going through code) If you can go through someone's code you can tell how experienced they are and if they can design complex systems (if the project is complex enough). I asume the code for your visual search representation is going to be pretty well structured based on how it behaves. Did they ask to see the code btw?

[@SVNSET]

Very cool! Thank you for making this video. I'm an android engineer and this has inspired me to make a project just like your path finding visualizer!

[@jeremycoleman3282]

I don't think it was the project, just overall being a boss

[@PowderedToastMaaaan]

LOL dude these are fucking BONKERS. Like I can't even comprehend how you did all of this with the level of experience you had at the time. I went through a boot camp that I actually ended up TAing for, for about a year after. Never have I seen any student in my own cohort and the other 4 I TAd for after come up with anything close to these. Just insane!

[@alaayahia5356]

I actually think that your third project is very very impressive! Thank you for sharing with us.

[@reinardusjoseph1017]

The first one is the most eye-catching

[@FrostSpike]

Good video. On the subject of the interpreter project, years ago when I was learning a lot of programming languages (as a hobby) one of the exercises I'd do to see if I understood them and could write fluent code in the new language was to write a Logo interpreter and execution runtime (sometimes they ended up being the same thing, sometimes I built an AST and then executed that). That was quite nice as I ended up with something visual and interactive too that I could show people - though back in those days there wasn't so much of a culture of having a programming portfolio outside of work projects.

[@matthewkim6575]

Amazing stuff, I am simply blown away by your creative implementation of algorithms into a fun and visually compelling program.

[@ankanchakraborty1648]

blessed to find out this channel! its during my placements so a little late but hey!! better late than never!! Happy Coding!!

[@illlanoize23]

Thank you for this sir it gives me ideas for my own it seems it’s important to relate them all back to computing principles as opposed to the cool mindless but interactive stuff I was doing

[@spencersherk7116]

that pathfinding visualize is mmmph! so good.

[@codefingers8957]

Dev Ed was pleased by the intro...

[@Lion_McLionhead]

Miss the days employers valued functional open source projects that benefited everyone rather than contests & academic exercises specifically aimed at getting a job.

[@yangchun7458]

It’s really an mind open video for me to consider new projects that I’m gonna spend time on

[@wzrd5572]

Damn this stuff is really cool! I'm currently building my portfolio for a career in game development - and seeing this stuff if really motivating. In my opinion the path finding visual tool is the best - but the interpreter is also awesome! It seems like a really cool thing to learn how to do.

[@binitdhakal3381]

Path finding project was tooo awesome.. . Something too inspiring.. . And the sorting project was great.. .. Overall everything was great.. . I cant resist to subscribe.. 😍😍😍

[@structuralcraft]

The pathfinder project is out of this world. Great Work!!

[@krishvora449]

Really insightful video. 👌🏻 It’s amazing how you took something as simple as algorithms and converted them into a visual project. Gave me a lot of ideas for my projects as well. Great video 👍🏻. Keep it up.

[@SteveFInnaLeave.]

I’m half way through my computer science degree and I feel like I’m doomed when I hear the term “coding interview”

[@yoyashuyo3485]

So what you doing now to overcome that, suggest me too.

[@SteveFInnaLeave.]

@@yoyashuyo3485 I get less and less worried about coding interviews the more consistent I become and the more knowledge I intake, at the end of the day I feel like most companies are looking for potential, compassion and hard work.

[@evergreen7781]

I really loved the Shortest Path visualisation project Clèment !!! ❤️❤️❤️

[@openbardi]

Hi Dude, I am so impressed by what you did! Actually I am a computer vision algorithm engineer and basically I write in C++ and Python. Could you give me some advice for what other tools I must know to implement such a project like you do. What might be the best plan for learning and project for starting right away. Many many thanks for all your sharing!

[@sanchitverma2892]

JavaScript

[@lamiazohramihoubi214]

Dude you're vids are pure gold. Such awesome, genuine and insightful content, a thousand thumbs up!! ❤❤

[@IISKINYII]

What coding bootcamp did he attend? Looks like it did amazing for him! Clemente, would you say you learned alot of your skills from the bootcamp or on your own time doing your own projects and research?

[@davidsaint8866]

I feel like a fraud now, for calling myself a software engineer. Please Clement, what coding Bootcamp did you attend?

[@kurtcobain2355]

Read his channel description

[@davidsaint8866]

Kurt Cobain It is obviously isn't/wasn't there when I asked.

[@MohamedJakkariyaRBE]

Superb stuff you're building. Best inspirational one. Thanks for your great video ❤️

[@nitishkhanna9368]

After watching the first 2 projects, I started losing my confidence of getting into google. But after watching the third project, I became very confident that I can never get into google.

[@ARCANEmateCLAN]

😂😂😂

[@SalmanYU]

1 year ago I wanted to create a pathfinding visualizer and had no idea where to even start and 2 weeks ago I decided to try it and was able to finish it and make it pretty decent.

[@stianchrister]

another reason the 2nd project is cool is that it teaches you intuition for algorithms.

[@jimchen3762]

Hi clement! Just recently saw this video, I want to understand more about your thoughts on building the 4th project where you mentioned “from a software engineers POV, this isn’t great” I want to understand how you viewed the project when you are a student vs. how you view the project as a software engineer

[@SeresHotes25]

Thank you so much!!! Your video is super helpful. Now I understand what kind of projects I should make

[@sneha_d_mystery_princess]

Yes your projects are extremely impressive... before everything I wanna Thank you #Clément I am looking for a job at Google... Although I recently joined a really cool organisation as a Full stack developer but my ultimate goal is Google and you know now a days your videos just tell me as though.. our #Clément has just taken a sort of Pledge, like my viewer belong to these top tech companies.. and no were else... Thank you soooo much Clément this was the most helpful video of yours in recent times...

[@andreacerasoni]

Been following your channel for a while, love your content.

[@theoschnell2272]

Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge. It really does help me with my own project!

[@hansdietrich83]

Huh? I'm confused here. I don't want to sound condescending here, but the first project is just a simple user interface that any web developer can build in a day and that a beginner could build in a week with only YT tutorials. That surely wasn't the project that google hired you for...

[@muskangupta1977]

I have a recently built a student Grievance redressal system by which took me to work insanely for continuous one month and I was so hell proud of it that hell what I have built 🔥 and today I saw this and I am questioning my own belief 🤐😬 This is like some outstanding project 🔥 great work Mann!

[@ChristopherPhillipsDev]

I'm still amazed at his getting a nod with only a bootcamp in his back pocket. There must've been prior experience. One doesn't just do that from a bootcamp unless a savant.

[@maxmaxwell4211]

He just has a high IQ, he has an undergraduate in maths, and in 6 months learnt enough to get in Google, that's not simply hard work

[@orangerazzz]

As a total beginner in programming, and just learning it for a hobby. So this comment will be dumb for all experts! But anyways: I can see why the pathfinder algorithm is usefull. But the sorting algorithm was to me something I thought already did exist in the programming language. I mean its visually cool, but I thought this could be done in a blink of a second without any software engineering. And I havent checked before commenting, but just felt like computer overall is good at math and logic that this was something it could do from the beginning. :)

[@augustvctjuh8423]

Project 1 and 2 are good ideas, but I could make those myself in a short timespan. Project 3 seems way more impressive, but I guess that's because I have 0 experience with making interpreters.

[@willdedill]

Clément thats a fucking sick project mate - KUDOS

[@__blatatat]

This video is very insightful as to how an applicant can stand out. Have you done a video or spoken at all about what an entry level interviewee could have that would be beneficial (in addition to AlgoExpert, of course) to include in a projects portfolio for software engineering not specifically targeted at FAANG positions?

[@chibi5406]

4:17 OwO

[@pjcodes438]

If HARDWORK had a name attached to it. GREAT job man! VERY impressive :)

[@goodrhythms5320]

In my first year of my training as a software developer i build a visualizer for sorting algorithms in c++ which basically rendered the bars in the console using dashes in different colors. It was like 1 1/2 hours of work (2 boring lessons during school :P). I know there are better ways to do this but it was quite fun and in my Noob days i was quite impressed what i could achieve even tho i only had basic knowledge.

[@ashiq-urrahman8488]

your are really impressive. thanks for some absolutely amazing ideas :D

[@bivashchakraborty6518]

Hey Clément, Thank you so much for these videos. Learning a lot. Please could you tell us what boot camp you went to. Or could you recommend a few which would be helpful.

[@mahadev1050]

The projects are really insane.

[@valigeorge9110]

Super tare, Man! Felicitări!

[@chinmay6144]

I am feeling like I didn't do anything in my 6 years of computer science learning

[@GottZ]

nice projects dude. if you really like visual stuff maybe try playing around with glsl shaders in webgl

[@XbattlepopeX]

>< smells iq of 200, well this got me into algorithms now, in the past 2 hours i learned how to generate a table, give it ids and all the good stuff, now to write and animate some algorithms, good by next few months see ya at Christmas. Also consider making a course for udemy on algorithms and how to visualize them

[@pistonsoup3749]

Where it at

[@ricardofranco7419]

I’m a simple man... I see magic...I subscribe.

[@legendguitargamer]

Thank you for sharing you experience with us! Very cool projects and it gave me a good perspective about how i can use my personal experiments. Very cool ;D

[@chillyvanilly6352]

So first of all - IMPRESSIVE!! It really is...I mean, I personally have never really got to know someone who learned programming from a coding boot-camp THAT well, but seems to me like it must have been quite hard and challenging. (at least that is what I perceived) But what I just noticed from your video (although 1 will not justify a "yes"!), is that if the people on a coding boot-camp apparently REALLY want to learn that stuff and assault the tasks with such a passion - one can get quite far with that, so it seems...bcs I was always quite skeptical of such online platforms, because I wasn't sure whether or not they would really make you get into algos and data structures, since that (which - IMHO) is a necessity! But then I found your video, and figured "hmm..apparently with great passion and time, you can still achieve greatness" :)) Long story short - I found your video to be quite motivating and informative, yet the title really wasn't as appropriate IMHO... Also, I assume both of you working on the "Oak" language have not considered making a tokenizer, right? Because that is what I would recommend doing to anyone who will not get demotivated/frustrated too easily, because one can learn a F*CK-TON of stuff from it!

[@starlord9220]

Thnkx for sharing ur experience and insights clement, really appreciate it :)

[@SuperWalkthroughKing]

Sophomore in college studying CS here. What kind of project would you recommend making for someone who is trying to get an internship in tech?

[@elvinjafarli6257]

Try visualizing bfs, dfs, inorder, preorder, postorder traversals for beginning.

[@breckortiz4895]

Hey, I was just wondering, what Coding boot camp did you go to? I’m about to leave high school and I’ve been doing coding for about a year now, and I’m looking for the next step in life. Thanks and really impressive projects!

[@sarerusoldone]

Am I the only one who is more impressed by the third project than by the one with the sorting and path finding algorithms? We did sorting in high school and path finding the first semester math class at university... lol

[@director8656]

That first project was top top tier, I will try and make something similar but without a plain

[@markclynch]

Do you think a fully functional CRM is a decent project?

[@biswadeep9522]

I m using this extension for last 3 or 4 months......may be more......and I did not know you made it........as a Software Engg may be its not a great project as u hav said.....but for a user like me its a great thing for me......it makes my laptop cool......and thats what I want.

[@kevinregan9424]

Great video!!, really impressive! I'm seriously considering your advice as I've been actively thinking about the type of side project I'd like to pursue.

[@vicexeqiel]

I feel like a kid who just saw a sci-fi movie cause your projects blew my mind apart!

[@andreaspatounis5674]

What would happen if in the first program if you put walls so that it's impossible to go to the destination

[@mediaconsumption3972]

try it, it's in the description

[@mycode0]

I watch that 2 years ago and up to this date I still can't build something similar

[@Mis_guidedz]

Anyone else just get pissed of by the way this dude talks and moves, just too squirmy

[@mrtz187]

ye

[@theclockworkcadaver7025]

the lisp is killing me lmao

[@KingJellyfishII]

I'm most impressed by the programming language personally, I'm writing my own right now and I can understand the immense technical skill that goes into language design.

[@SpawnCampGames]

as an indie game dev I found the pathfinding simulation incredible!

[@fluffmcduck8608]

Magic and programming? Sounds like a dope ass guy

[@ashishbisht980]

In simple words, bro you are awesome :)

[@clem]

😎 that's always nice to hear!

[@norishfxdragneel2262]

There is a problem with the first project. It is not the shortest path. It just works by going to the target as close as it can the changing its direction when something blocks its way. You need to use x*x + y*y

[@vaibhavambasta8053]

Hi Clement, really helpful video. However, why do you mention that your chrome extension project is not as unique as the path finding visualization project?

[@dalbugger1392]

It sounds like this man needs to spit out the whole pack of gum that he just threw into his mouth

[@JesusMartinoza]

Last year they approved my application for a Google internship, I think it was because of some my personal projects. I was doing all the recruitment process, I did several interviews and code challenges but I in my last interview I got stuck because of my english >.< I'm afraid of apply again and idk if I can do all this process again. Clement can you please talk about Impostor syndrome?

[@williamlee7119]

Just spoke with my software engineering friend about coding bootcamps. He was saying most people that go through them are "contracted" out (aka work FOR but not AS an employee) to companies and the bootcamp takes a cut of their pay. After the contract is complete they no long work "for" companies like google.

[@pinguincoder]

Funny Thing is that im a Software Engineer since 5-6 years and I've Never had contact with any of those algorithms

[@SquareRoot_]

Any pointers for a Junior Computer Science major?

[@pinguincoder]

@@SquareRoot_ I can only really speak for Germany since I live and work here... But what Nearly every Job i See would like to See is knowledge in DevOps. So you can write and deploy your Own Code etc. Topics like Docker, Buildpipelines, CI/CD are always Nice to Have. Softwarewise i wouldnt Focus so much on focussing in Technologies rather than Concepts like Design Pattern, Architectures and common knowledge about security since nowerdays a lot of what we do happens in the cloud and we need to know how to secure the infrastructure from foreign access.

[@arvdosal]

Absolutely brilliant. Found I know best technology or frameworks do you use?

[@W0lfbaneShikaisc00l]

I dunno if I would want to use those kind of projects for a eportfolio. Sure it's visually appealing but this doesn't really advertise I can do anything impressive other than using someone else's borrowed algorithm and show it off as my own. Making it look more appealing by adding visual flare to it... essentially you could have just presented a web page that drew a line to where it was and you would had accomplished the same thing: sure not as cool to look at but it does the same job. Plus google might have just wanted to make something as visually appealing, doesn't mean all companies will want this.

[@KeithFlint350]

I wouldn't expect a motivational video here

[@kaustubh1969]

This makes me feeel dumb and inspired at the same time. I’m just two months into learning Python at age 28. Coming from finance, hoping to break into fintech/data Science.

[@tan8067]

Amazing projects! But I suddenly just feel so down lol, because I just graduated college and my projects are nowhere near as complex!

[@YogeshDarji99]

Nice projects, visually very appealing. How much time did it take you to learn react?

[@pratyushgoel99]

Why did I not see this 1 year back

[@iriel492ki]

Hey Clement I'm Long time subscriber to algoexpert - it's been immensely helpful so thank you! What is your code editor of choice? :)

[@clem]

Awesome to hear! And VS Code is by far my favorite.

[@Geomaverick124]

Thanks for the ideas!

[@JummaJara]

I like you how to using easy words to explain something hards too much. keep going !!

[@birdofhermes6152]

The pathfinder is sick tbh

[@kevinmuhia5915]

First of all great work you doing on the channel. Do you have any resources we could use to learn how to build our own versions of the visualizations? Thanks