Am I cheating my way to a job?

Just started learning React after putting it off for so long. I was too focused on leetcode. I don’t like watching long 10+ hour tutorials because they waste time. I just watched a quick crash course. I’m building a portfolio because my current projects are really bad. Like embarrassing bad.

I don’t know what companies expect from a junior.

My question is: Is it okay to watch a project tutorial, get the idea, then build something similar but change the design and add more features? I don’t know what else to do. It feels like cheating, but I don’t have time for huge projects since I need to start applying for jobs and with my current projects on my resume I’m getting rejected.

Here are my 4 projects. I already finished the first one, which is an app that lets users view trending TV shows and movies and also have the option to add them to a watchlist. I learned how to use and fetch data from APIs. For my second project, I want to build a clean portfolio website using neobrutalism design. Third, I’m planning an AI resume analyzer tool. Fourth, I want to create a job board that targets my country since it’s a niche market and I hope to get real users to use it.

Is this enough? I don’t know what else employers want. I think I’m overthinking this whole thing.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​