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I have never been directly employed at a large Silicon Valley tech company. Is it really that difficult to work on side projects on your nights/weekends while

I have never been directly employed at a large Silicon Valley tech company. Is it really that difficult to work on side projects on your nights/weekends while working at these places? To be sure, it would take longer to get your projects finished, but you would also be doing so with the benefit of a steady paycheck and health insurance. If you happen to hit the lottery with your finished project, great - quit your job. But it seems insane to me to just gamble on something with such absurdly long odds, especially if you have a wife. Also, the sad reality is that only a very lucky few will create games that become popular enough to generate a living wage without somewhat aggressive monetization techniques, such as ads and in-game purchases. This guy seems to really dislike his corporate job, but apparently not enough to monetize his games well. If anyone else wants to follow in his footsteps, you should do some soul searching before you put in your notice and decide if you can live with a near-zero chance of success while sticking to your principles, or if you want to have a much higher chance of success but with the caveat that your users will be seeing ads and buying power bars from you. Life is full of crappy trade-offs.

amirrajan 9y ago
+1. This guy took a huge risk and is an idiot. He got stupid lucky.
- scott_karana 9y ago
  In case anyone missed it, 'amirrajan is the author of the submission :)
- downandout 9y ago
  I didn’t say you were an idiot. You bought a lottery ticket, and won. All I was saying is that most people in the app business lose, especially if they don’t use aggressive monetization.
  - amirrajan 9y ago
    No seriously. My current self would be slapping my past self in the back of the head saying “you idiot, do you have any idea what kind of bullet you dodged?!”
krrishd 9y ago
> Is it really that difficult to work on side projects on your nights/weekends while working at these places? I only have internship experience to speak of, but I've noticed that when I'm writing code from 9-5 -- even though I thoroughly enjoy programming and creating stuff with it -- I end up uninterested in doing more of that in the free time I have left. I think it's a psychological thing more than a time thing.
rco8786 9y ago
> Is it really that difficult to work on side projects on your nights/weekends It doesn't really have anything to do with "large Silicon Valley tech company". I have a life outside of work, friends, family, etc that I spend most of my nights and weekends curating. Working 40+ hours a week anywhere makes it hard to launch something at night without being young and single or sacrificing time with your family.
defen 9y ago
If you work at a big Silicon Valley tech company, odds are that your employment contract says that they own whatever you do on your own time, if it's at all related to anything the company does (not just stuff you work on at the company or using company resources; anything they do).
- opencl 9y ago
  If you work at a big Silicon Valley tech company, odds are that you live in California where where such contract clauses are illegal.
  - defen 9y ago
    You're thinking of non-competes, which are very different. I would suggest talking with an employment lawyer if you work for a BigCo in Silicon Valley.
cdelsolar 9y ago
I have a pretty sizable side project and I'm starting another one. It's possible, but you have to be hyper organized with your time. I used to do a lot of my coding on the BART/Transbay commute back and forth (about an hour and 15 minutes a day), plus another hour at night. You can do a lot in two hours a day. Squeeze in a few hours during the weekend and you can still have a life and a full-time job. You do have to love coding though.
woolvalley 9y ago
No it isn't. He also isn't employed in SV with those comp numbers. I'm kind of surprised he isn't working there with his personal levels of ambition. Being married also helps him avoid the difficult hetero male dating scene there too. I guess family or something similar is keeping him from moving. There is a lot of cool stuff to work at a big silicon valley tech company. They actually have the budget & the need to do engineering 'properly' somewhat :). I have read that in most businesses, you want to start with marketing & sales as the major focus vs. the product itself. Creator types like us software engineers like to focus on creating, which can create problems in making an actual business.

amirrajan 9y ago

+1. This guy took a huge risk and is an idiot. He got stupid lucky.

scott_karana 9y ago
In case anyone missed it, 'amirrajan is the author of the submission :)
downandout 9y ago
I didn’t say you were an idiot. You bought a lottery ticket, and won. All I was saying is that most people in the app business lose, especially if they don’t use aggressive monetization.
- amirrajan 9y ago
  No seriously. My current self would be slapping my past self in the back of the head saying “you idiot, do you have any idea what kind of bullet you dodged?!”

krrishd 9y ago

> Is it really that difficult to work on side projects on your nights/weekends while working at these places? I only have internship experience to speak of, but I've noticed that when I'm writing code from 9-5 -- even though I thoroughly enjoy programming and creating stuff with it -- I end up uninterested in doing more of that in the free time I have left. I think it's a psychological thing more than a time thing.

rco8786 9y ago

> Is it really that difficult to work on side projects on your nights/weekends It doesn't really have anything to do with "large Silicon Valley tech company". I have a life outside of work, friends, family, etc that I spend most of my nights and weekends curating. Working 40+ hours a week anywhere makes it hard to launch something at night without being young and single or sacrificing time with your family.

defen 9y ago

If you work at a big Silicon Valley tech company, odds are that your employment contract says that they own whatever you do on your own time, if it's at all related to anything the company does (not just stuff you work on at the company or using company resources; anything they do).

opencl 9y ago
If you work at a big Silicon Valley tech company, odds are that you live in California where where such contract clauses are illegal.
- defen 9y ago
  You're thinking of non-competes, which are very different. I would suggest talking with an employment lawyer if you work for a BigCo in Silicon Valley.

cdelsolar 9y ago

I have a pretty sizable side project and I'm starting another one. It's possible, but you have to be hyper organized with your time. I used to do a lot of my coding on the BART/Transbay commute back and forth (about an hour and 15 minutes a day), plus another hour at night. You can do a lot in two hours a day. Squeeze in a few hours during the weekend and you can still have a life and a full-time job. You do have to love coding though.

woolvalley 9y ago

No it isn't. He also isn't employed in SV with those comp numbers. I'm kind of surprised he isn't working there with his personal levels of ambition. Being married also helps him avoid the difficult hetero male dating scene there too. I guess family or something similar is keeping him from moving. There is a lot of cool stuff to work at a big silicon valley tech company. They actually have the budget & the need to do engineering 'properly' somewhat :). I have read that in most businesses, you want to start with marketing & sales as the major focus vs. the product itself. Creator types like us software engineers like to focus on creating, which can create problems in making an actual business.