When I first got into development, I was urged to do side projects because I could make more money and because people thought I would learn a lot. After a two y

When I first got into development, I was urged to do side projects because I could make more money and because people thought I would learn a lot. After a two years, I really didn't learn a lot and ended up dealing with customers who were overzealous and pushed me around to get more out of me then what they were paying me for (virtually peanuts). After a while, I figured I would take a year off and not do any side projects and focus on building my skills. I built more stuff in that year then I ever could being shackled to something which I would never learn much from. I never looked back after that first year. I continue to learn faster and pick frameworks, techniques and languages far faster than I ever imagined. What's the downside? - Maybe not putting a few thousand tax free American dollars back in my pocket. What's the upside? - Spending more time with my family since I can learn on my own time and at my own pace without any deadlines looming. - Learning things that are interesting to me. - Building things I think are cool - not what somebody else thinks they want. Like having Comic Sans in their company logo. - Staying on the cutting edge of my industry without falling behind.