The Trade‑Off Treasure: How Documenting Your Decisions Turns a Side Project into Interview Gold (opens in new tab)

The Quest Begins (The “Why”) I still remember the first time I walked into a technical interview feeling like a kid who’d just shown up to a lightsaber duel with a butter knife. I had a handful of side projects on my GitHub, each with a shiny README that listed features, installation steps, and a link to the live demo. The interviewers nodded, asked a couple of quick questions, and then moved on to the whiteboard. I left the room wondering, “Did they even see the work I put in?” It hit me aft...