Gaming AI
Creating gaming AI takes things up a few pegs in terms of complexity. You’re inherently trying to take complex behavior and turn it into ones and zeros.
If you feel up to it, go all out with creating sports based games or decision based play using game engine software.
Remember though, your programming project doesn’t need to be the next best thing since Assassin’s Creed. It’s enough to take a simple game like Snake and include a couple of additions to make it a bit snazzier.
Programming skills you can prove: data structures, algorithms, game engines (e.g. Unity)
Voice and Face Recognition Software or Apps
Voice and face recognition is the way of the future so getting in on it now not only proves your technical skills, but also that you’re a forward thinker.
Creating software to recognize your face and face to open a door or as a password enabling mechanism, for example, are a couple of great ways of demonstrating Python projects on your resume (Python is the third top tech skill employers want now just after Java and SQL).
Programming skills you can prove: algorithms, Python, data analysis, software development
Web Crawling/Scraping
This isn’t about just creating a program that just scrapes the web— that has no end goal and is relatively useless unless you're scraping for some kind of gigantic database.
So you can do one of two things: you can build a website that uses the scraped information for some purpose or you can automate the scraping program to do something with that information on its own (for example, scraping the news and posting the top 3 articles on your social media feed).
Programming skills you can prove: automation, web development, web scraping, database management
An Ad Board
This could actually be any kind of board where you utilize several different users and user inputs. Creating a board like an ad board or job board requires programming and UI that acknowledges the difficulty of matching different users with their needs.
This idea would also work for a site or app that is centered around barter trade.
Programming skills that you can prove: database management, web development, UI
Game Mods
Whoever said that programming needs to just be serious apps? Take advantage of mixing pleasure with work and showcase game mods that you made to your favorite game.
Creating game modifications can prove both hard skills and soft skills since it uses both your creative thinking skills as well as programming skills.
And to answer your question—yes, non-game companies will be interested in this.
Programming skills that you can prove: SDK, 3D animation, modelling, coding (Python, C++, JavaScript)
Mobile Apps
Making a mobile app is one of the staple go-tos in the IT world. With today’s tools and easy access to instructional videos, it’s quite simple to make one or more apps.
There is one caveat here though— there is a huge mass of mobile apps out on the market so unless your app is mind-blowingly amazing, you’ll be as visible as a drop of water in the ocean.
Another pomodoro timer or list app isn’t going to cut it if you want to get your dream IT job. So you can go one of two routes— make the app more complex, or go with a simpler app, but a rare idea.
For example, a simple to-do list isn’t anything to write home about. But sync that to-do list with Evernote, Google sheets or calendar, or OneNote and you have something much more interesting, useful, and complex.
Another idea is to take an app you already know and make it even better through upgrading its features, adding features, expanding or simplifying the UI, etc.
Programming skills you can prove: mobile app programming and development, UI, UX, API
Forecasting Software
Everyone wants to be able to see into the future and you can help with that. Build a program that can extract meaningful relationships from large data sets. If that program can also make forecasts or predictions on the basis of those data sets, then you have an instant winner.
Remember to tailor your resume to the job you want. If you’re applying for an IT job in the business world, create a financial forecast that will predict profits or losses. If you’re applying for a job in marketing, try to forecast user/follower retention and growth.
Programming skills you can prove: data analysis and management, software development, forecasting, analytical skills .
A Website or Blog
Building a website or blog is one of the simplest programming projects you can work on. That doesn’t mean that it has to be something uber primitive.
Let you mind go wild with what your website can offer or do to prove your programming skills. Websites are also a great addition to other programming projects such as web scraping or ad boards so they don’t always have to be only stand alone projects.
Programming skills you can prove: HTTP server, UI design, HTML/JavaScript/CSS, database management