This is also why it's been difficult for me to decide on portfolio projects to build. I just don't have anything I really need to build. I made a compound interest calculator as my first React app, but could have made an excel sheet or python script.
I use a frustration threshold. A lot of times, I’ve got a working solution, but it’s not “right”, so when that become frustrating enough, I build something.
A few examples
dotnet does not work on OpenBSD, so to run jellyfin (supported by the infuse app on the apple tv), I have to run Linux. I wonder if I can replicate the API somehow
calibre is quite nice, but I don’t use much of its capabilities. I could try to make a simpler system for my use cases.
And so on.