Would adding a vector from scratch in C++ with modern practices be a good resume project?

Question

I'm thinking of making a vector from scratch with basic methods along with copy/move semantics. I also plan to extend it with templates. What are your thoughts on this?

Answer 1

I've been hired for software development by a few different companies and stayed with one for about 6 years which gives me some idea what employers are looking for. I studied and used c++ for hobby projects but not really in paid work. I used other languages like Python, c#, and Java for paid software development work.

Most employers want to see that you can hit the ground running when they hire you. They like seeing related experience. They want to know that you can make sense of larger tasks and requirements and you'll be productive without needing micromanagement. For this reason, I recommend creating larger c++ projects instead of implementing your own version of a data structure available in STL. Showing that you can create Windows' notepad or GEdit from Mac complete with a functional graphical interface should impress an employer more. That may require some library installation and configuring with a toolkit or self-study of your operating system's API's to create windows, menus, buttons... A working graphical text editor will demonstrate a more complete skill set and customer-oriented mindset than implementing a data structure.

In short, try to make a somewhat useful application that a non-technical person could understand so you can show people that you've gone beyond learning about data structures or tiny features of c++ to become a well rounded software developer.