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I want to learn how to even start a side-project. I've been out of university since 2012 and have done basically nothing in my free time CS-related. Every tim

by Ocerge 10y ago

I want to learn how to even start a side-project. I've been out of university since 2012 and have done basically nothing in my free time CS-related. Every time I start to even think about doing something, that "why are you working while on your free time" feeling comes up and I immediately do something else. Not sure if it means I really don't love programming and Computer Science after all (entirely possible) or if it means I'm just lazy. My goal is to find out one way or another.

LouisSayers 10y ago
I think the trick is to find something you're truly excited about. It's not work if you're enjoying the thing you're doing. Perhaps the problem is you're wanting a side-project for the wrong reasons.
- grardb 10y ago
  This. Aside from a hackathon or two, I have "completed" exactly one side project since graduating in 2013. There were numerous times I started projects and quickly gave them up, and it was simply because my goal was to have a side project, which is not really a goal at all. This year, my girlfriend and I were using Google Sheets to track our expenses and compete to see who could spend less money. We eventually decided it'd be a way better experience if we had a dedicated app for it, so I worked relentlessly to build one and polish it up until I was pretty proud of it. I "released" it to a couple of online communities where I thought people might be interested, and I gained exactly 1 active user who I don't know in real life. It's all good, though, because my girlfriend and I use it every day, so that's all that matters to me :D But yeah, it can be difficult to "scratch an itch" if you feel that nothing needs scratching. If that's the case, I wouldn't really worry about it. If you don't need to build anything, then don't spend time building anything. It's nothing to feel bad about.
  - hhimanshu 10y ago
    I have made one side project ever since 2013 (I am working from 2011 and made few failed project, but learnt a lot). In 2013, we had exactly same problem - tracking expenses and do personal budgeting. My wife was using spreadsheets and I created a software (using Python and Flask) and released a webapp. Later we realized that an app would be much more useful, so rewrote the backend (Java EE) and front-end(Objective C), but never released it. We have however 3 years worth of our own data (never did analysis or charts). Lately, we feel that since our app never made to App Store, it crashes every 7 days and I need to reinstall/use XCode to do this work (very painful). I plan to rewrite again in Scala (my latest favorite) and use React-Native to build the app. This time I would like to publish it
- sh87 10y ago
  The thing about excitement is that it dies off. What motivated you a few days/weeks ago now is just not worth the effort or time that you'd rather invest doing something more worthwhile.
aethos 10y ago
I've yet to graduate, but I find myself in the same position. I've got other non-CS related hobbies that I enjoy and so I don't really end up making any good side projects. CS seems to have this feel around it where it has to be both your job and your passion. Recruiters want to see that you spend all your time outside of work/school programming, which makes it difficult for people like us who have other hobbies they like too. I wonder if it will ever change?
- LeanderK 10y ago
  i sometimes wonder whether it's worth it. One of my passions is Cs and i enjoy it very much. But It's not the only one and i fear that one day i wake up burned out, wondering how i have wasted my time learning technologies that have become totally useless. If you have a passion for CS, CS will likely consume youre time and dominate your life. I don't want this, i want to learn and have fun, but i think it's comparable to a drug that's fun a first but if you don't watch out dominates your life. Just image if you're in your 50s...does this really matter? Is starting a family a better (but harder!) idea? is work/learning CS really that rewarding? I don't know. I just really hope that i make the right decision and don't waste very valuable time.
- icebraining 10y ago
  I don't know how's the market where you live, but are you sure the "programming outside work" is really a crucial component, or that you're not just sending your CV to "hip" startups? Because the market around here isn't that hot, yet it's not hard at all to find companies who don't really care about your personal life, they just want to know about your academic and professional lives.
gemalandaverde 10y ago
The struggle is real and I have been in the same position... Procrastinating and just being lazy or dropping online courses in the middle... I just found out about a site liveyourlegend.com and I will try to use the tools they provide to find out about my true passion... I knew that I wanted to be a computer engineer since I was 15... But now I feel very behind in matter of experience and knowledge... Maybe it has to do something with these feelings also it could be a good time to do some internal work and try to know ourselves more....
bello 10y ago
Relevant: "No, I have no side code projects to show you" https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-have-side-code-projects-show-you-ezekiel-buchheit https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-have-side-code-projects-sho...
econner 10y ago
I've recently started to complete side projects. I also graduated in 2012 so I was in a similar position a few months ago. What clicked for me was that I realized I didn't have to do anything heroic. At first I'd start a project and feel like I had to complete it in a couple of weeks, but then you're trying to spend all your free time on it and you tend to burn out quickly that way. Instead now I start a project, spend a few hours on it, and then just try to spend a little bit of time on it every day. Even just 20 minutes can make a huge difference. The key is to just do a little bit, steadily, over a long period of time. It really adds up. And doing that keeps you engaged with the project and wanting to spend time on it.
monksy 10y ago
I've gotten a lot of side projects done in my spare time. The trick is to make apps/programs for what you need. Not something that someone else wants it.
cocktailpeanuts 10y ago
If you see them as something that will make you a "skilled programmer", or something that will be a nice addition to your resume, you probably won't get anywhere. Well, maybe you will become a "skilled programmer" and you may be able to add a line to your resume, but does that really matter? You're sacrificing your precious time which you could be spending to do something more meaningful, like spend time with family and friends, read books, experience new things in life. And in that case I would rather just spend time doing something more meaningful instead of trying to force yourself to find some side project to work on. Most successful side projects come from people wanting to express themselves. If you don't have an idea that you want to build at the moment, don't force yourself, just enjoy life and only jump on it when you stumble upon an idea you really want to work on so much that you would even sacrifice your sleep time.
gravypod 10y ago
Do you want to know the secret to starting projects for yourself? Don't buy or download any software just write it yourself. I've got a huge movie collection on DVD. Rather then use Plex I made my own website to do the same thing. I have a lot of PDFs of books I want to read, made similar software to allow me to keep my position in my browser I wanted to study for a HAM license general exam do I made this: http://ham.joshuakatz.me/exam http://ham.joshuakatz.me/exam I've been looking for a thinkpad x220t so I made this go scrape cregslist for me: https://github.com/gravypod/BargeIn https://github.com/gravypod/BargeIn (I live in N. NJ if anyone has one laying around) There are thousands of examples where I've done this and it's very fun. It improves your abilities and toolings and in general makes your life on the computer much easier. You don't have to be trendy just be useful to yourself and people will like it.
- shrikrishna 10y ago
  I can't overstate what a good advice this is. It's counterintuitive, but if you are just starting out, reinventing the wheel is the best practice you can get!
  - joe563323 10y ago
    I too think the same seriously. This is not sarcasm right ?
    - shrikrishna 10y ago
      No it isn't. I did the same when I was starting out. Rather, we all do, when we are starting to learn anything new, by following tutorials, where you basically reimplement what the author of the tutorial has.
- giancarlostoro 10y ago
  This is one reason I installed ReactOS. They make their own framework for the OS, and they haven't made too many apps, so my idea is to add in the things I need for myself.
thewhitetulip 10y ago
I have written a webapp in Go to sort photos, http://github.com/thewhitetulip/picsort http://github.com/thewhitetulip/picsort We had gone for a group outing, had million photos, less than 10 people in each photo, so didn't make sense to give the same photos to everyone, so wrote a basic app which would let me tag people and created eachone's folder and copied photo in it. Starting a side project shouldn't be done by the goal of starting a side project, look around you, is there a manual process which you wish there would be a better way to do? sorting photos was one such way and I wrote an app for it. I did the same for a todo list manager, didn't have internet or any good todo list manager, so I wrote one and learned the Go language and the Vue.JS framework https://github.com/thewhitetulip/Tasks https://github.com/thewhitetulip/Tasks

by Ocerge 10y ago

LouisSayers 10y ago

I think the trick is to find something you're truly excited about. It's not work if you're enjoying the thing you're doing. Perhaps the problem is you're wanting a side-project for the wrong reasons.

grardb 10y ago
This. Aside from a hackathon or two, I have "completed" exactly one side project since graduating in 2013. There were numerous times I started projects and quickly gave them up, and it was simply because my goal was to have a side project, which is not really a goal at all. This year, my girlfriend and I were using Google Sheets to track our expenses and compete to see who could spend less money. We eventually decided it'd be a way better experience if we had a dedicated app for it, so I worked relentlessly to build one and polish it up until I was pretty proud of it. I "released" it to a couple of online communities where I thought people might be interested, and I gained exactly 1 active user who I don't know in real life. It's all good, though, because my girlfriend and I use it every day, so that's all that matters to me :D But yeah, it can be difficult to "scratch an itch" if you feel that nothing needs scratching. If that's the case, I wouldn't really worry about it. If you don't need to build anything, then don't spend time building anything. It's nothing to feel bad about.
- hhimanshu 10y ago
  I have made one side project ever since 2013 (I am working from 2011 and made few failed project, but learnt a lot). In 2013, we had exactly same problem - tracking expenses and do personal budgeting. My wife was using spreadsheets and I created a software (using Python and Flask) and released a webapp. Later we realized that an app would be much more useful, so rewrote the backend (Java EE) and front-end(Objective C), but never released it. We have however 3 years worth of our own data (never did analysis or charts). Lately, we feel that since our app never made to App Store, it crashes every 7 days and I need to reinstall/use XCode to do this work (very painful). I plan to rewrite again in Scala (my latest favorite) and use React-Native to build the app. This time I would like to publish it
sh87 10y ago
The thing about excitement is that it dies off. What motivated you a few days/weeks ago now is just not worth the effort or time that you'd rather invest doing something more worthwhile.

aethos 10y ago

I've yet to graduate, but I find myself in the same position. I've got other non-CS related hobbies that I enjoy and so I don't really end up making any good side projects. CS seems to have this feel around it where it has to be both your job and your passion. Recruiters want to see that you spend all your time outside of work/school programming, which makes it difficult for people like us who have other hobbies they like too. I wonder if it will ever change?

LeanderK 10y ago
i sometimes wonder whether it's worth it. One of my passions is Cs and i enjoy it very much. But It's not the only one and i fear that one day i wake up burned out, wondering how i have wasted my time learning technologies that have become totally useless. If you have a passion for CS, CS will likely consume youre time and dominate your life. I don't want this, i want to learn and have fun, but i think it's comparable to a drug that's fun a first but if you don't watch out dominates your life. Just image if you're in your 50s...does this really matter? Is starting a family a better (but harder!) idea? is work/learning CS really that rewarding? I don't know. I just really hope that i make the right decision and don't waste very valuable time.
icebraining 10y ago
I don't know how's the market where you live, but are you sure the "programming outside work" is really a crucial component, or that you're not just sending your CV to "hip" startups? Because the market around here isn't that hot, yet it's not hard at all to find companies who don't really care about your personal life, they just want to know about your academic and professional lives.

gemalandaverde 10y ago

The struggle is real and I have been in the same position... Procrastinating and just being lazy or dropping online courses in the middle... I just found out about a site liveyourlegend.com and I will try to use the tools they provide to find out about my true passion... I knew that I wanted to be a computer engineer since I was 15... But now I feel very behind in matter of experience and knowledge... Maybe it has to do something with these feelings also it could be a good time to do some internal work and try to know ourselves more....

bello 10y ago

Relevant: "No, I have no side code projects to show you" https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-have-side-code-projects-show-you-ezekiel-buchheit https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-have-side-code-projects-sho...

econner 10y ago

I've recently started to complete side projects. I also graduated in 2012 so I was in a similar position a few months ago. What clicked for me was that I realized I didn't have to do anything heroic. At first I'd start a project and feel like I had to complete it in a couple of weeks, but then you're trying to spend all your free time on it and you tend to burn out quickly that way. Instead now I start a project, spend a few hours on it, and then just try to spend a little bit of time on it every day. Even just 20 minutes can make a huge difference. The key is to just do a little bit, steadily, over a long period of time. It really adds up. And doing that keeps you engaged with the project and wanting to spend time on it.

monksy 10y ago

I've gotten a lot of side projects done in my spare time. The trick is to make apps/programs for what you need. Not something that someone else wants it.

cocktailpeanuts 10y ago

If you see them as something that will make you a "skilled programmer", or something that will be a nice addition to your resume, you probably won't get anywhere. Well, maybe you will become a "skilled programmer" and you may be able to add a line to your resume, but does that really matter? You're sacrificing your precious time which you could be spending to do something more meaningful, like spend time with family and friends, read books, experience new things in life. And in that case I would rather just spend time doing something more meaningful instead of trying to force yourself to find some side project to work on. Most successful side projects come from people wanting to express themselves. If you don't have an idea that you want to build at the moment, don't force yourself, just enjoy life and only jump on it when you stumble upon an idea you really want to work on so much that you would even sacrifice your sleep time.

gravypod 10y ago

Do you want to know the secret to starting projects for yourself? Don't buy or download any software just write it yourself. I've got a huge movie collection on DVD. Rather then use Plex I made my own website to do the same thing. I have a lot of PDFs of books I want to read, made similar software to allow me to keep my position in my browser I wanted to study for a HAM license general exam do I made this: http://ham.joshuakatz.me/exam http://ham.joshuakatz.me/exam I've been looking for a thinkpad x220t so I made this go scrape cregslist for me: https://github.com/gravypod/BargeIn https://github.com/gravypod/BargeIn (I live in N. NJ if anyone has one laying around) There are thousands of examples where I've done this and it's very fun. It improves your abilities and toolings and in general makes your life on the computer much easier. You don't have to be trendy just be useful to yourself and people will like it.

shrikrishna 10y ago
I can't overstate what a good advice this is. It's counterintuitive, but if you are just starting out, reinventing the wheel is the best practice you can get!
- joe563323 10y ago
  I too think the same seriously. This is not sarcasm right ?
  - shrikrishna 10y ago
    No it isn't. I did the same when I was starting out. Rather, we all do, when we are starting to learn anything new, by following tutorials, where you basically reimplement what the author of the tutorial has.
giancarlostoro 10y ago
This is one reason I installed ReactOS. They make their own framework for the OS, and they haven't made too many apps, so my idea is to add in the things I need for myself.

thewhitetulip 10y ago

I have written a webapp in Go to sort photos, http://github.com/thewhitetulip/picsort http://github.com/thewhitetulip/picsort We had gone for a group outing, had million photos, less than 10 people in each photo, so didn't make sense to give the same photos to everyone, so wrote a basic app which would let me tag people and created eachone's folder and copied photo in it. Starting a side project shouldn't be done by the goal of starting a side project, look around you, is there a manual process which you wish there would be a better way to do? sorting photos was one such way and I wrote an app for it. I did the same for a todo list manager, didn't have internet or any good todo list manager, so I wrote one and learned the Go language and the Vue.JS framework https://github.com/thewhitetulip/Tasks https://github.com/thewhitetulip/Tasks