A Software Engineering Students Search for a Real Project

fyp software engineering student journey project ideas
October 5, 2025
4 min read
By Ali Shan

Table of Contents

This is a list of all the sections in this post. Click on any of them to jump to that section.

A Software Engineering Student’s Search for a Real Project

fyp

Every software engineering student eventually reaches the same crossroads: the final year project. It is supposed to be the culmination of everything you have learned, a demonstration of skill and creativity. But for many of us, it quickly turns into something else: a checklist project built to meet requirements rather than solve a real problem.

I did not want to do that.

Where It Started

I do not come from a top-tier university. There were no big names or fancy labs behind my education. What I had was time, curiosity, and the willingness to learn things on my own. I knew early on that the only thing that could set me apart was my skill set, so I spent years building it. I learned how to design, code, and ship things independently. By the time my final year began, I was comfortable with web development, cloud computing, and databases, Agentic AI, but I wanted to use them for something that mattered.

The Usual Ideas

When my final year began, I did what most students do. I started collecting project ideas from friends, seniors, and supervisors. I saw the same suggestions everywhere: management systems, CRUD-based apps, and clones of existing platforms. Functional, yes. Original, no.

I have built plenty of systems like that in past semesters. They were good practice for understanding frameworks and databases, but none of them felt meaningful. I did not want my final project to be another system that stores data and displays it back. I wanted something that analyzes, learns, and provides real value.

Rethinking What a “Good” FYP Means

I started to question what a good FYP actually is. Does it need to be complex or practical? Should it showcase technical depth, or should it solve a real-world problem? Ideally, it should do both. It should challenge you technically while also being useful beyond the classroom.

That became my benchmark. My FYP had to be something I would actually use or show to a client. Something that could stand as a portfolio piece, not just a passing grade.

That mindset made finding an idea harder. I did not want to chase buzzwords like blockchain or AI just for the sake of complexity. I wanted something realistic that could be built in six to eight months by one person and still feel complete.

So I started listing problems around me: how businesses operate, how data is used, how software decisions are made. I spent days breaking down potential problems, sketching solutions, and throwing most of them away. It was frustrating at first, but it helped me refine what I actually wanted to build.

When It Finally Clicked

After weeks of thinking, I landed on something that made sense. It was not another management system. It was something data-driven that could combine the skills I already had in React, Next.js, Node.js, and databases, with room to integrate AI and machine learning later.

It is not time to reveal what it is yet. That will come later.

For now, what matters is the direction. I finally have an idea that feels like mine. Something that connects what I have learned with what I actually care about building.

What Comes Next

This post is the first in a series documenting my final year project journey. I will be writing about how I am approaching the architecture, why I chose certain tools, and the problems I face along the way. My goal is not to create a tutorial but to share what it is really like to build something from the ground up as a student.

Finding an idea was harder than I expected, but that is also what makes this journey worth sharing. The next step is turning it into something real.