6-Step Framework for Building AI Projects Target Companies Care About

Bashiri Smith · Facebook reel · 2026-09-23 · 0:08 · 44,736 views · Open on Facebook

Topics: Portfolio Projects, Resume, Job Search & Interviews, AI System Design & Architecture · Level: beginner

Summary

This short reel (no speech, caption only) gives a six-step process for picking and building a portfolio project. The project should solve a problem your target companies are already hiring people to solve. The steps are: choose target companies, research their real problems, pick one problem and go deep, design the system, build it, then launch and promote it. It ends with a pitch for the creator's BASWE.AI program.

Key points

• Core rule: your next project should solve a problem your target companies are already hiring people to solve.
• Step 1 – Choose target companies: decide on industry, role, and company stage, and list 10–100 companies that fit your experience and goals.
• Step 2 – Research their real problems: read job descriptions, engineering blogs, company news, and tech stacks. Look for problems that keep coming up, and connect with engineers on those teams before you apply.
• Step 3 – Pick one problem and go deep: it should be specific, relevant to several target companies, and buildable in 1–2 months. Research the domain and ask engineers informed questions.
• Step 4 – Design the system: map out the architecture and decide whether AI actually helps. Choose models and tools, plan for reliability, cost, and evaluation, and be ready to explain each choice.
• Step 5 – Build it, alone or with a team, and document the decisions you make along the way.
• Step 6 – Launch it and get it seen: publish a clean repo, a clear README, a demo, and a writeup of the problem and your approach. Share it on LinkedIn and in relevant communities, and use it in applications and outreach.

Resources mentioned

• BASWE.AI · website · baswe.ai · paid
  BASWE's AI engineer accelerator site, which also mentions an application manager service for high-ticket placement clients.
  Also in: Comment-to-DM Offer: Claude Prompt, 27 AI Engineering Projects & BASWE.AI (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes)
• Bashiri Smith's AI Projects Guide · pdf · drive.google.com · free
  The creator's guide to 27 AI projects, with full architecture, build steps phase by phase, interview talking points, and the stack for each project.
  Also in: Generate Job-Worthy AI Project Ideas from Recent Research Papers + ChatGPT (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes), 3 AI Portfolio Projects That Get Past the 6-Second Resume Scan (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes), 15 Production-Grade AI Projects to Go from Software Engineer to AI Engineer (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes), 5 Weekend AI Engineering Projects: Cost Routing, Caching, Evals & Observability (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes) and 3 more
• LinkedIn · website · linkedin.com · free
  Professional network, used here to find warm-lead connections and the names of contacts for cold outreach.
  Also in: Step-by-Step Roadmap to a $200K+ AI Engineering Role (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes), 7 Habits to Become an AI Engineer: Books, Tooling, Research & Shipping (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes), 6 Steps to Build a Resume Project That Lands an AI Engineering Job (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes), Beat the Hiring "Signal Problem": Referrals, Targeting, and Volume (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes) and 3 more

Try this

• List 10–100 target companies by industry, role, and company stage.
• Study their job descriptions, engineering blogs, company news, and tech stacks to find problems that keep coming up.
• Connect with engineers on those teams before you apply, and ask them informed questions.
• Pick one specific problem that matters to several target companies and can be built in 1–2 months.
• Design the architecture: decide whether AI really helps, choose models and tools, and plan for reliability, cost, and evaluation.
• Build the solution and write down your decisions as you go.
• Publish a clean repo, README, demo, and writeup, then share them on LinkedIn and in relevant communities.
• Use the project in job applications and outreach.
• Comment "BETTER" to get the framework, the project ideas, and the community link.
• Build a project that solves a problem that keeps showing up in your target companies' job descriptions and engineering blogs, sized to finish in 1–2 months.