It's 2009. iPhone had been recently released. Before Instagram became the de-facto photo social network, there was Flickr (yes, it still exists).
Flickr had their own iPhone app, but I felt like I could put my own spin on it. Mobile was new for everyone, and it was a fun challenge building a high-performance, responsive, beautiful iPhone experience for photos.
Flickit made it all the way to the top 3 slot in the Photography category. While I was super proud of my technical achievements, I didn't quite get the hang of Marketing in the App Store so it didn't go much farther than that.
However, my designs for the app eventually caught the eye of a team at Apple, which led to an interview AND a job offer! But, for many reasons, I turned it down. 🤦🏻♂️ (That's a story for another day.)
While the app didn't turn out to be a huge success (Facebook and eventually Instagram really bit into Flickr), Flickit also helped me land me my gigs at Fidelity and KAYAK, which both turned out to be extraordinary experiences.
Don't give up on your side projects! You never know how even a slight bit of exposure might help you in the future.