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I've recently realized that most of the enjoyment I derive from building things comes from the process (figuring out neat / new ways to do things, debugging, th
by frodwith 15y ago
I've recently realized that most of the enjoyment I derive from building things comes from the process (figuring out neat / new ways to do things, debugging, thinking). Shipping is a necessary tedium for me. Maybe people like me have more fun fiddling with the minutiae of our tools than actually "doing cool things".
No value judgment there, just an observation.
- cageface 15y agoI used to feel the same way but after many years of tinkering with languages, tools, operating systems etc the novelty began to wear off and I began to feel unsatisfied by the things I'd actually shipped into the world. These days I get far more satisfaction from putting something new that's useful or fun in front of users and I don't care much exactly what it took to get it there.
- TeMPOraL 15y agoFor me it was probably hanging out on HN for the last two years that changed my mindset. I used to like spending time building (as in, building forever, not shipping) things with interesting technologies and great attention to code style, etc. Right now I try to focus on making something useful for me or others[1]. Programming is now more of a tool (one of many) than an art for me (though I still love to play around with technologies and concepts). I blame this mindshift on the prevailing focus on shipping something useful ASAP that can be seen here :). [1] - to the point that yesterday, after spending few hours researching available software and technologies, I decided to pay few bucks for a solution that I would normally strive to code myself.