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Seconded. It seems to me that whenever people tell you to keep your day job while trying to start a business, their day jobs are not related to programming.(so

Seconded. It seems to me that whenever people tell you to keep your day job while trying to start a business, their day jobs are not related to programming.(so IT, analyst...) I would love to read something about how your code all day for your day job and then code all night for your business. That info, coming from somebody who has done it before would be a very interesting read. (Another interesting thing would be reading about how to keep your sanity while doing all of this for more than a few weeks)

gridspy 17y ago
To code on both, do something you care about as your startup. _really_ care about. Also, there is lots to do. Do whatever seems most fun to you at the time. By the time you are forced to do things for clients, you'll have enough code and good habits formed to manage it. To stay sane, set strict rules about time off. For me, Friday night and Saturday (all day and night) are family time. Sunday is totally Gridspy time. If I start to feel tired, admit it and remind yourself that you can ship one month later and take a few days off here and there.
angelbob 17y ago
I haven't started a business in spare time, but I've put similar amounts of time into various open-source, unpaid projects. I'd second the guy who said, "do something you really care about." I find that programming stuff that motivates me at home makes it much easier to keep writing the grind-work code at work. Of course, there's a lot of stuff in starting a business that sucks. I'd say to try to arrange your work so that you're writing code you like when you're already feeling pretty burnt out, and doing more "normal" business tasks (write documentation, set up servers, do paperwork) when you're more energetic. Writing code to refresh yourself isn't perfect. And starting a business is a lot more than just coding. But it's a hack that can help a fair bit, especially in the more coding-heavy sections of starting up.

gridspy 17y ago

To code on both, do something you care about as your startup. _really_ care about. Also, there is lots to do. Do whatever seems most fun to you at the time. By the time you are forced to do things for clients, you'll have enough code and good habits formed to manage it. To stay sane, set strict rules about time off. For me, Friday night and Saturday (all day and night) are family time. Sunday is totally Gridspy time. If I start to feel tired, admit it and remind yourself that you can ship one month later and take a few days off here and there.

angelbob 17y ago

I haven't started a business in spare time, but I've put similar amounts of time into various open-source, unpaid projects. I'd second the guy who said, "do something you really care about." I find that programming stuff that motivates me at home makes it much easier to keep writing the grind-work code at work. Of course, there's a lot of stuff in starting a business that sucks. I'd say to try to arrange your work so that you're writing code you like when you're already feeling pretty burnt out, and doing more "normal" business tasks (write documentation, set up servers, do paperwork) when you're more energetic. Writing code to refresh yourself isn't perfect. And starting a business is a lot more than just coding. But it's a hack that can help a fair bit, especially in the more coding-heavy sections of starting up.