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Probably not what people want to hear, but I think it's near impossible to complete a significant personal project while working a FT day job, let alone gain th

Probably not what people want to hear, but I think it's near impossible to complete a significant personal project while working a FT day job, let alone gain the inspiration for something unique and meaningful. If you're really passionate about pursuing your own projects, unless you are superhuman, I think you'll have to take time off work, or find something PT or flexible consulting hours.

tluyben2 10y ago
In my experience that is not true and I am really not superhuman. I am passionate about entrepreneurship and programming though. Edit: Over time, 3 of my side projects allowed me to move country, take a 5 year 'sabbatical' (for me that mostly consisted of programming and repairing old 70-80s computers and developing new projects) and basically do whatever I like. If only for my 'main job' I would've not made that happen for a while (note; this was 8-9 years ago).
taneq 10y ago
I find it really hard to be passionate about personal projects at the same time as work projects. The moment I get excited about something at work, all of my personal stuff gets instantly shelved. Then, when work turns non-technical, all of a sudden I'm all fired up for my old projects.
- hbhakhra 10y ago
  I've seen this exact cycle multiple times with my job. I got into programming because I enjoy it and find it fulfilling. When I hit boring times at my job, I seek that fulfillment with side projects.
varjag 10y ago
It's entirely doable unless you are on a permanent death march at work. Us modern people have it incredibly easy with appliances doing the bulk of the chores home.
- cableshaft 10y ago
  I just went to DisneyWorld and saw Walt Disney's 'Carousel of Progress' attraction, which is one of the oldest attractions there. It was basically about how awesome electricity is for automating so many of our chores in the household. Although it was supposed to allow more time for family and recreation, not work...
pjc50 10y ago
It's doable if you're young, single and in good health. Like a lot of things. (again I think I need to write my "I was a 10x programmer until I got chronic fatigue" post)
- cableshaft 10y ago
  I would be interested in reading your article, if that helps motivate you at all. I went through something similar.
xiaoma 10y ago
You should read Masters of Doom. >The gamers weren’t just Softdisk guys anymore, they were, as they called themselves, the IFD guys, co-owners of Ideas from the Deep. Softdisk, as a result, took on an even greater pallor. But it was a day job, a job they all needed since there was no real money coming in yet and no guarantee that it would come in at all. They decided, then, to continue working on titles for Gamers Edge during the day while they churned out Commander Keen from the lake house at night. >They became all the more efficient at "borrowing" the Softdisk computers. Every night after work they’d back their cars up to the office and load the machines. The next morning they’d come in early enough to bring the com- puters back. They even got a little cocky about it. Though the machines were top of the line, they wanted some minor adjustments made..."

tluyben2 10y ago

In my experience that is not true and I am really not superhuman. I am passionate about entrepreneurship and programming though. Edit: Over time, 3 of my side projects allowed me to move country, take a 5 year 'sabbatical' (for me that mostly consisted of programming and repairing old 70-80s computers and developing new projects) and basically do whatever I like. If only for my 'main job' I would've not made that happen for a while (note; this was 8-9 years ago).

taneq 10y ago

I find it really hard to be passionate about personal projects at the same time as work projects. The moment I get excited about something at work, all of my personal stuff gets instantly shelved. Then, when work turns non-technical, all of a sudden I'm all fired up for my old projects.

hbhakhra 10y ago
I've seen this exact cycle multiple times with my job. I got into programming because I enjoy it and find it fulfilling. When I hit boring times at my job, I seek that fulfillment with side projects.

varjag 10y ago

It's entirely doable unless you are on a permanent death march at work. Us modern people have it incredibly easy with appliances doing the bulk of the chores home.

cableshaft 10y ago
I just went to DisneyWorld and saw Walt Disney's 'Carousel of Progress' attraction, which is one of the oldest attractions there. It was basically about how awesome electricity is for automating so many of our chores in the household. Although it was supposed to allow more time for family and recreation, not work...

pjc50 10y ago

It's doable if you're young, single and in good health. Like a lot of things. (again I think I need to write my "I was a 10x programmer until I got chronic fatigue" post)

cableshaft 10y ago
I would be interested in reading your article, if that helps motivate you at all. I went through something similar.

xiaoma 10y ago

You should read Masters of Doom. >The gamers weren’t just Softdisk guys anymore, they were, as they called themselves, the IFD guys, co-owners of Ideas from the Deep. Softdisk, as a result, took on an even greater pallor. But it was a day job, a job they all needed since there was no real money coming in yet and no guarantee that it would come in at all. They decided, then, to continue working on titles for Gamers Edge during the day while they churned out Commander Keen from the lake house at night. >They became all the more efficient at "borrowing" the Softdisk computers. Every night after work they’d back their cars up to the office and load the machines. The next morning they’d come in early enough to bring the com- puters back. They even got a little cocky about it. Though the machines were top of the line, they wanted some minor adjustments made..."