Phase 7 — Capstone and Signal (M11–M13, W45–W56)

You are almost there. Twelve months in, you have a language, a discipline, a portfolio of small artifacts, a running observed gRPC service, and a case-study blog post. Phase 7 is where you convert that raw material into two undeniable capstone projects and a signal machine that puts them in front of the right people. This is the phase where “I am learning C++” becomes “I ship C++.”

Thesis: undeniable

The distance between “person a recruiter passes on” and “person a hiring manager writes about internally” is not IQ, credentials, or study technique. It is undeniability. Undeniable means: the project runs at a public URL, the numbers are in a README, the code is on GitHub with clean commits, the blog post explains a real decision with real data, and the LinkedIn headline sends recruiters directly to the artifacts. When someone spends 90 seconds on your profile, they should walk away thinking “this person has shipped.” That is Phase 7’s only goal.

Two capstones do the heavy lifting. One is a service (MiniServe, Capstone Alpha) — backend applied-C++/ML positioning. The other is a library (PyFast, Capstone Beta) — Python-facing infra positioning. Together they cover the two most common shapes of role you will actually get offered: “make our inference faster” and “give us a Python API over your C++ core.” One project is not enough. Three would dilute focus. Two is exactly the number.

The two capstones (defined in the next two files)

Capstone Alpha — MiniServe

Capstone Beta — PyFast

Shape

Deployed service

Python library w/ C++ core

Users

Load-testers, integrators

pip install-ers, notebook users

Success metric

ghz benchmark vs Python baseline

PyPI downloads, GitHub stars, benchmark vs pure-Python competitor

study surface

System design, gRPC, observability, batching

Bindings, ABI, packaging, perf, testing

Recruiter mental model

“Infra / SRE / ML platform”

“Applied ML infra / library author”

You need both because you do not yet know which door opens first. Alpha targets Zoho-adjacent, Databricks-adjacent, Nvidia-Bangalore-adjacent hiring. Beta targets the growing “we need a Python API that isn’t slow” niche — Modal, Cerebras, MLX-adjacent, and every startup with a fast C++ core.

Timeline: M11 kickoff, M12 build, M13 launch + study

Month

Weeks

Milestones

M11

W45–W48

Capstone Alpha kickoff. Spec locked by W45. Alpha M0 by W48 (running end-to-end, ugly). Beta candidate picked.

M12

W49–W52

Alpha polish, benchmarks, deploy. Beta build. Alpha public by W50. Beta M0 by W52.

M13

W53–W56

Beta polish, PyPI. Blog posts for both. LinkedIn overhaul. Resume finalized. Outreach begins W54. First studies scheduled W55–56.

Do not extend Phase 7 more than 2 weeks. If a capstone is not shippable by its gate, cut scope aggressively. A finished 70% capstone beats an unfinished 100% capstone by a wide margin.

Exit criteria (all must be true at W56)

  1. Capstone Alpha (MiniServe) is live at a public URL you can share. Anyone with grpcurl can hit it.

  2. Capstone Alpha has a README with architecture diagram, benchmarks table (versus Python FastAPI + PyTorch baseline), install/run instructions, and a demo GIF or 60-second video.

  3. Capstone Beta (PyFast) is published on PyPI. pip install <name> works from a fresh venv.

  4. Capstone Beta has a demo notebook on Google Colab, shareable via a badge in the README.

  5. A dedicated blog post exists for each capstone. Not generic. Specific decisions, specific numbers.

  6. LinkedIn is overhauled per 04_linkedin_and_resume.md. Headline, About, Skills, Featured section pinning both capstones.

  7. Resume is one page, per the sample in 04_linkedin_and_resume.md. PDF + editable source in your portfolio repo.

  8. A 20-name target company list exists with tier assignments (see 05_interview_conversion.md).

  9. At least 5 recruiter conversations initiated by W56. This is measured in messages sent, not offers received.

  10. At least 1 technical study completed, ideally 3. It does not have to be from a top-tier target; the study is data, not the goal.

  11. Personal blog is on your own domain, with at least 4 posts (P6.3 + two capstone posts + one bonus).

  12. The M13 pitch (see 06_the_m13_pitch.md) is rehearsed — you can deliver it verbally in 30 seconds without stumbling.

What Phase 7 is not

Three temptations to resist:

Not “more learning.” Phase 7 is production and outreach. Every hour you spend reading a new C++ book instead of shipping capstone Alpha is an hour subtracted from the phase’s real goal. You already know enough. Ship what you have.

Not “one perfect capstone.” Perfectionism will eat this phase. Both capstones ship. Both have rough edges. The rough edges become blog post material — “this is what I would fix next” — which is more credible than “everything is perfect.”

Not “silent.” Building without telling anyone is the failure mode of every talented engineer. Phase 7 requires roughly 40% of your time on signal: blog posts, LinkedIn, r/cpp, HN, recruiter messages. If it feels weird, good — it means you are doing the thing that actually converts capabilities into offers.

Time budget: 12–15 hrs/week (up from 10–15)

Phase 7 is heavier than Phase 6 by design. You are shipping two projects and running an outreach cycle in parallel.

  • 7 hrs — capstone building (rotating: Alpha 4h + Beta 3h, or the reverse depending on month)

  • 3 hrs — writing (blog posts, READMEs, LinkedIn content)

  • 2 hrs — outreach (recruiter DMs, application submissions, follow-ups)

  • 1–3 hrs — study prep (from W53 onward), else buffer

If you have more than 15 hrs some weeks, put the extra into Beta — it is the more forgivable of the two if it slips.

Files in this phase

  1. 01_capstone_alpha_definition.md — MiniServe full spec.

  2. 02_capstone_beta_definition.md — PyFast full spec, three candidate designs.

  3. 03_public_signal_and_blog.md — blog, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, r/cpp, HN.

  4. 04_linkedin_and_resume.md — profile + resume templates.

  5. 05_interview_conversion.md — pipeline, 20-company target list, negotiation.

  6. 06_the_m13_pitch.md — the six versions of your one-sentence pitch.

  7. projects.md — shipping checklist and timeline gates.

The framing that gets you through this phase

You have spent 12 months preparing. Phase 7 is not more preparation. It is the study and the shipping and the exposure. It will feel uncomfortable because it is the first time the loop closes on the outside world. That discomfort is the signal that you are in the right phase.