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The answer for most developers, myself included, is that we don’t. Reading hacker news and r/programming makes it seem like everybody is out there putting 60 h

The answer for most developers, myself included, is that we don’t. Reading hacker news and r/programming makes it seem like everybody is out there putting 60 hours a week in at a tech giant or sufficiently trendy startup and then spending another 40 on cutting edge side projects. The only side project I did in 2018 was to solve a very specific need I had. It was about 30 lines of poorly written python that I’ll probably never go back and update because it works well enough, but I use it every day because it solved a real problem for me. I guess my advice is to look for a problem and don’t worry if you don’t find anything. There is more too life than side projects. If you’re just looking for something to improve your skills or show off to potential employers, you should just clone something that already exists. I believe twitter clones, Reddit clones, and basic games (pong through super Mario bros) are common choices.

emerongi 8y ago
I absolutely love programming and I enjoy my job, but after spending 1/3 of my day on work, I am really not in the mood to do even more work. As for 2018, I wrote a backup script. It works really well.
- mrfusion 8y ago
  It’s more like half a day. I wouldn’t count sleep as part of your day. Plus in your free half you have to do errands, cleaning, shower, meals. So the other half isn’t really yours either.
Linox 8y ago
Ok. Thanks for the reply. I’ll try to come up with some problems for myself
- stonecharioteer 8y ago
  It depends, OP. I have a lot of side projects going but I barely get time to work on them. Some Devs make time, some just cannot afford to. As for where I get my ideas, I keep finding stuff I want to improve all the time. I believe in writing code to solve everyday problems. Even if sometimes the code bit takes long :P I also try to solve these problems using new stuff I learn. I am not a CS grad but I am reading computer architecture just to be able to better Appreciate GPUs better. It'll help me eventually learn OpenCL some day. Coding is fun. Make sure you are having fun with whatever you do.

emerongi 8y ago

I absolutely love programming and I enjoy my job, but after spending 1/3 of my day on work, I am really not in the mood to do even more work. As for 2018, I wrote a backup script. It works really well.

mrfusion 8y ago
It’s more like half a day. I wouldn’t count sleep as part of your day. Plus in your free half you have to do errands, cleaning, shower, meals. So the other half isn’t really yours either.

Linox 8y ago

Ok. Thanks for the reply. I’ll try to come up with some problems for myself

stonecharioteer 8y ago
It depends, OP. I have a lot of side projects going but I barely get time to work on them. Some Devs make time, some just cannot afford to. As for where I get my ideas, I keep finding stuff I want to improve all the time. I believe in writing code to solve everyday problems. Even if sometimes the code bit takes long :P I also try to solve these problems using new stuff I learn. I am not a CS grad but I am reading computer architecture just to be able to better Appreciate GPUs better. It'll help me eventually learn OpenCL some day. Coding is fun. Make sure you are having fun with whatever you do.