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As someone trying to undertake some personal projects like this, I have a question. How do you keep motivated enough to work on this for so long and dedicatedly

by bmitc 4y ago

As someone trying to undertake some personal projects like this, I have a question. How do you keep motivated enough to work on this for so long and dedicatedly? As a solo developer, how did you manage things like getting stuck on technical issues that were either bugs out of your control or something you didn't have the knowledge to know how to fix?

MysteryChessBox 4y ago
Honestly keeping yourself motivated through the end is a monumental task and I can only do it on smaller games (which coincidentally fit the NES hence why I actually have a finished game on it). It's all too easy to just quit when all the fun stuff gets programmed, leaving only the boring parts left. If there's a magic trick for bigger project motivation I'd like to know, too.
cloogshicer 4y ago
Think of something you really enjoy doing. As a random example I'll pick "playing video games". Now, imagine you've been playing the same game for a couple days in a row. And you're getting kinda sick of it. Not that it's bad, it's got its good moments. You've just had enough of it, for now. Would you continue playing it? The answer is (hopefully): Of course not! You'd move on to something else you enjoy more. If the game was truly engaging, you'll come back to it anyways, maybe a few days/weeks/months later, when it captures your interest again. Since a few years this is my attitude towards side projects. The flipside is that you have to accept the fact that 99% of the things you start will never get finished. But that's ok, as long as you enjoy the work itself. Of course that doesn't mean there aren't difficult moments. But there has to be a genuine, intrinsic motivation, which is independent of shipping something. Keeping a journal/todo-list for every project (I use an infinite bulleted list like Dynalist) really helps, since you can just come back to a project anytime by looking at the end of the list.
pubby 4y ago
Motivation was sporadic. I'd have a few weeks of intense focus, followed by months of inactivity. The nice thing about compilers it that 90% of their code is interesting, so there was always something fun worth coming back to. Besides, I put other projects on hold so I wouldn't get distracted. I don't always know the best way to do something, but so long as I know some way to do it, I can make progress. Tough bugs are just a matter of perseverance. And hey, if it's still not working, just drop the feature. In a personal project, you can do that and nobody can stop you. One more thing: don't talk about your projects until they're 95% done. Seeking early validation is a poison pill.
- bmitc 4y ago
  Thanks for the response! My projects aren't that far along, but this echoes a lot of my experience and helps me remember these are common feelings. > I don't always know the best way to do something, but so long as I know some way to do it, I can make progress. This helps a lot. Thanks! One of my issues is being able to be ok with feature gaps or bugs. I can solve them if they were created by me, but there are some that need outside help as they are likely bugs in external software or even drivers. But maybe it makes sense to press on and revisit later. > One more thing: don't talk about your projects until they're 95% done. Seeking early validation is a poison pill. Is this because you draw attention to an unfinished project, get distracted by feature requests or praise, or something else?
  - pubby 4y ago
    Yeah, external bugs suck, but usually there's workarounds. > Is this because you draw attention to an unfinished project, get distracted by feature requests or praise, or something else? If you get a bad reaction, you'll be demotivated. If you get a good reaction, you'll feel satisfied and not have the drive to keep working. Either that, or you'll devote more and more time to posting on social media, getting less work done in the process.
    - detrites 4y ago
      > If you get a bad reaction, you'll be demotivated. If you get a good reaction, you'll feel satisfied and not have the drive to keep working. This is so important, and not only for sw dev but anything. Anyone who is struggling with completing personal projects, try starting the next one with the explicit goal to not speak about it - with anyone - until it's either complete, or very near. It may be hard to do at first but ultimately worth it.
- proper_elb 4y ago
  If you don't mind: What would you working on it look like, on a typical work-day look like, hour wise? Raise up at 5am and hack away for 2h, or come back from day job and straight into the fun thing, or wait a bit and than hack away... What worked for you? Lately, I seem to manage 1-3 days of coding on my hobby project after work, provided I have some features where I can see meaningful success within 90 minutes of coding (+ the same time for debugging or researching new libraries, if needed)
keyle 4y ago
I'm in my 40s and I have a long string of complete side projects. The key is to have a project you know is worthwhile and will tickle your curiosity for long periods of time... So even if you burn out, you come back to it. I go through intense weeks of productive work followed, sometimes, by months of dust covers. Also it's important to understand that creative energy is hormonal. Some weeks you can't look at a youtube video because you have to do X; some weeks you can't open a code editor if you're not paid for it and just want to netflix and chill. It's normal. But if the problem at hand is worth your while, if it's interesting to you personally, you'll go back to it and resume intense focus work; maybe with a different approach. If you totally gave up and you don't want to look at it anymore, it's probably because your inner-senses tell you it's not worthwhile. So you might need some re-convincing or maybe it's just a dead fish, move on. Money is a great motivator, so when the work is unpaid, the value has to come from somewhere else, and that's usually the importance of the project to you personally.
- bmitc 4y ago
  > I go through intense weeks of productive work followed, sometimes, by months of dust covers. It seems this is a theme in the replies, and it's refreshing to hear because it matches my experience. But it's nice to hear since I was worried this was abnormal.

by bmitc 4y ago

MysteryChessBox 4y ago

Honestly keeping yourself motivated through the end is a monumental task and I can only do it on smaller games (which coincidentally fit the NES hence why I actually have a finished game on it). It's all too easy to just quit when all the fun stuff gets programmed, leaving only the boring parts left. If there's a magic trick for bigger project motivation I'd like to know, too.

cloogshicer 4y ago

Think of something you really enjoy doing. As a random example I'll pick "playing video games". Now, imagine you've been playing the same game for a couple days in a row. And you're getting kinda sick of it. Not that it's bad, it's got its good moments. You've just had enough of it, for now. Would you continue playing it? The answer is (hopefully): Of course not! You'd move on to something else you enjoy more. If the game was truly engaging, you'll come back to it anyways, maybe a few days/weeks/months later, when it captures your interest again. Since a few years this is my attitude towards side projects. The flipside is that you have to accept the fact that 99% of the things you start will never get finished. But that's ok, as long as you enjoy the work itself. Of course that doesn't mean there aren't difficult moments. But there has to be a genuine, intrinsic motivation, which is independent of shipping something. Keeping a journal/todo-list for every project (I use an infinite bulleted list like Dynalist) really helps, since you can just come back to a project anytime by looking at the end of the list.

pubby 4y ago

Motivation was sporadic. I'd have a few weeks of intense focus, followed by months of inactivity. The nice thing about compilers it that 90% of their code is interesting, so there was always something fun worth coming back to. Besides, I put other projects on hold so I wouldn't get distracted. I don't always know the best way to do something, but so long as I know some way to do it, I can make progress. Tough bugs are just a matter of perseverance. And hey, if it's still not working, just drop the feature. In a personal project, you can do that and nobody can stop you. One more thing: don't talk about your projects until they're 95% done. Seeking early validation is a poison pill.

bmitc 4y ago
Thanks for the response! My projects aren't that far along, but this echoes a lot of my experience and helps me remember these are common feelings. > I don't always know the best way to do something, but so long as I know some way to do it, I can make progress. This helps a lot. Thanks! One of my issues is being able to be ok with feature gaps or bugs. I can solve them if they were created by me, but there are some that need outside help as they are likely bugs in external software or even drivers. But maybe it makes sense to press on and revisit later. > One more thing: don't talk about your projects until they're 95% done. Seeking early validation is a poison pill. Is this because you draw attention to an unfinished project, get distracted by feature requests or praise, or something else?
- pubby 4y ago
  Yeah, external bugs suck, but usually there's workarounds. > Is this because you draw attention to an unfinished project, get distracted by feature requests or praise, or something else? If you get a bad reaction, you'll be demotivated. If you get a good reaction, you'll feel satisfied and not have the drive to keep working. Either that, or you'll devote more and more time to posting on social media, getting less work done in the process.
  - detrites 4y ago
    > If you get a bad reaction, you'll be demotivated. If you get a good reaction, you'll feel satisfied and not have the drive to keep working. This is so important, and not only for sw dev but anything. Anyone who is struggling with completing personal projects, try starting the next one with the explicit goal to not speak about it - with anyone - until it's either complete, or very near. It may be hard to do at first but ultimately worth it.
proper_elb 4y ago
If you don't mind: What would you working on it look like, on a typical work-day look like, hour wise? Raise up at 5am and hack away for 2h, or come back from day job and straight into the fun thing, or wait a bit and than hack away... What worked for you? Lately, I seem to manage 1-3 days of coding on my hobby project after work, provided I have some features where I can see meaningful success within 90 minutes of coding (+ the same time for debugging or researching new libraries, if needed)

keyle 4y ago

I'm in my 40s and I have a long string of complete side projects. The key is to have a project you know is worthwhile and will tickle your curiosity for long periods of time... So even if you burn out, you come back to it. I go through intense weeks of productive work followed, sometimes, by months of dust covers. Also it's important to understand that creative energy is hormonal. Some weeks you can't look at a youtube video because you have to do X; some weeks you can't open a code editor if you're not paid for it and just want to netflix and chill. It's normal. But if the problem at hand is worth your while, if it's interesting to you personally, you'll go back to it and resume intense focus work; maybe with a different approach. If you totally gave up and you don't want to look at it anymore, it's probably because your inner-senses tell you it's not worthwhile. So you might need some re-convincing or maybe it's just a dead fish, move on. Money is a great motivator, so when the work is unpaid, the value has to come from somewhere else, and that's usually the importance of the project to you personally.

bmitc 4y ago
> I go through intense weeks of productive work followed, sometimes, by months of dust covers. It seems this is a theme in the replies, and it's refreshing to hear because it matches my experience. But it's nice to hear since I was worried this was abnormal.