Hi Everyone,
We as developers are always hacking around. Trying new things and starting lots of side projects. Certain side projects are meant as an experiment but other site projects are meant to be something real. Maybe it's your next startup idea or a new idea to make some extra money.
But there always comes a moment you stop working on your side project. Maybe it's not interesting anymore or because you're lacking a skill. Maybe you're not good at design. Or you are good at design but not at development. Is it every time the same thing that is a show stopper or is it every time something else?
For me, there are usually 2 show stoppers.:
I am curious about your show stoppers.
For me it's the time in any project development where I can't figure out how the architecture of the project should be. Last time I was building a web application that needed a server, an API and a client and trying to get all the elements together to create the architecture of the project was so confusing that I ended up leaving the project as a half-done repo in my Github account.
Good question. I'm always of the mind of if im not good at something I'll go learn it, as long as it's not too far from my core disciplines.
Personally I usually get bored. Problem is I don't have the cash to outsource the simple stuff lol.
One thing I'm trying to do is do something with a project everyday, even if it's just turning it on and changing a single line or code or even a single attribute. It helps you get into the routine of doing something everyday to move the project forward. Apparently if you do it for 21 days in a row then it basically becomes a habbit. (I have yet to reach 21 days).
For me a lot of times it's because I simply forget what I was doing. I'll work on a project a lot for a week then not touch it for months. When I come back to it I have no idea what I did or where what I planned to do with it and often end up scrapping parts of it. Sometimes I don't work on it for so long that the technologies I used at the time are versions behind so I start all over again and the cycle continues.
I am trying to get out of that cycle by doing at least 1 line of code each day. So far so good. I have completed 1 project over the last month and am working on 2 more. I guess it just helps me keep momentum.
Mark
formerly known as M
Usually all the interesting / challenging parts are done and I get bored of it.