Hi, I am a recent graduate and am looking to start a career in web development. Its kind of a catch 22 at the moment as I have a fair bit of programming experience from university but not really in web development and to get a job in web development a portfolio is typically required.

So, I am looking to start a building a few application in order to have something to show potential employers. Im more into the backend stuff although am just as comfortable with front end development.

Does anyone have any thoughts on some potential projects that would be both relatively quick (as i need to get a job soon!) to build but show off enough programming knowlege / skills to be impressive to employers.

At the moment i am also learning to use the zend framework and I would hope to find work using such a framework (mvc).

My initial thoughts would be things like a webmail app or maybe a custom CMS.

Any ideas would be greatley appreciated.