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Ask HN: How do develop a side project when you have a 40hr/week job?

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Re: Ask HN: How do develop a side project when you have a 40hr/week job?

#41

Post by dools »

Here's how I'd do it:

My basic advice would be "set up a sustainable business that doesn't take up all your time and takes care of your basic income requirements, then develop an idea once you're financially independent enough to do so".

Maxing out your time now, while you're working, is the most stressful way to do anything. Developing something based on your own idea is the most risky way of doing anything.

Rather that focusing on your own ideas, focus on other people's problems, then figure out how to get paid to solve them.

Reduce your bottom line agressively to maximise the chances you can sustain yourself without taking up all your time.

Solve problems and get paid to do it, then systemise that and get other people to do the work. Now you have a business that doesn't take up all your time, but which takes care of your basic income requirements.

You can choose to spin a product off based on that, ie. by automating that business and selling it as a product, or you could use a product extension of that business to increase revenue, or you could just work on something completely tangential.

Re: Ask HN: How do develop a side project when you have a 40hr/week job?

#42

Post by joeld42 »

I do a lot of side projects. I feel like I am lazy but my friends always ask how I manage to find time for it. Which feels weird because it doesn't feel like a lot of time.

Basically, I work 1-2 hours in the mornings, not every day but a few times a week, either after I drop my daughter off at school, or before they wake up. Some nights I work after they go to bed (I am working on a side project right now, it's 10:20pm on a Sunday). Sometimes I stay up late if I can deal with being a little tired the next day. I'd say I get on average about 5 hrs a week out of this. Then, sometimes I carve out weekend days where I get 8-10hrs of work. Other days I'll watch the kids and let my wife go out to a movie or out with her friends to make up for it.

Slow and steady progress. Have realistic expectations. Just chip away at it.

Re: Ask HN: How do develop a side project when you have a 40hr/week job?

#43

Post by ACow_Adonis »

hn9780470248775 wrote: post #17

Another question: How do you develop a side project when your employer insists that it owns all intellectual property you produce? Edit: As far as I know this is a very standard clause in tech company employment contracts, and is perhaps the legal default even in the absence of such a clause. For example, see "Employed to invent" under http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/pre-invention-assignm... . California is an…

You have 3 options, I'm neither advocating nor dissuading against either.

1. Renogiate with your employer: but beware, many employers with this clause in it are unlikely to remove it, plus even bringing up the possibility will make an independent thought alarm go off in management/your HR file. I myself do not seriously suggest this strategy. It also makes it almost impossible to then implement strategy 3, as record of the request is itself something that may link your future work back to this company.

2. Quit/find another employer.

3. Lie. Work on your own project somehow, and make sure nothing can concretely link it back to your time working with said company. Do this until you can implement strategy 2.

Re: Ask HN: How do develop a side project when you have a 40hr/week job?

#44

Post by dikaiosune »

hunvreus wrote: post #26
dikaiosune wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding your second (sub) point about screens, I've found that f.lux and redshift (on linux) have been a huge help for me being able to get to sleep quickly after an evening of side-projects and homework.

I've used f.lux for a while but I tend to simply not have my laptop in my bedroom anymore. I get bored more quickly to read stuff on my phone or tablet, and tend to simply go to sleep instead (as opposed to a laptop where I multi-task, chat with folks and open a gazillion browser tabs).

Yes, I agree, I think that color temp tools are best used to even further remove the sleep effects of screens. Most of my usage is on a desktop in my living room office area, and my laptop never goes to the bedroom. I would advocate for using those tools on top of banishing screens from bed.

Re: Ask HN: How do develop a side project when you have a 40hr/week job?

#45

Post by octref »

I'm a junior college student doing some side projects[0] while taking 21 credits, jogging daily, going to mandatory club events, etc. Those except side projects take more than 40 hrs/week so I guess I have even less time for side projects than you.

I highly recommend you to read this talk script by Chris Wanstrath[1], one of GitHub's founders. Two of his suggestions:

- Turn off (or lower the frequency of) reading news/RSS/Twitter.

- Do a bit contribution to side project every day and get a streak. I feel John Resig's GitHub profile illustrates the point best[2].

I'm following these two suggestions on and off for a while, but I want to really do them for the whole year 2016.

And my suggestion is to go to some hackathons. You'll be amazed at how much you can get done during a weekend without distractions. Plus you meet a lot of awesome people, sharpen your skills and win prizes.

[0]: http://pwu.me/projects/

[1]: https://gist.github.com/defunkt/6443

[2]: https://github.com/jeresig

Re: Ask HN: How do develop a side project when you have a 40hr/week job?

#46

Post by rl3 »

dkokelley wrote: post #19

A (the left-brain/logical approach): There are 168 hours in a week. If you work 40 of them (+ 10 hours for inconvenient lunch breaks and commuting) and sleep 56 of them, you have 62 hours left. There you go. Figure out where those 62 hours are and spend them wisely. Organize your schedule so you have enough hours when and where you need them. B (the right-brain/emotional approach): Yes, you have ~62 hours from the ab…

>Absolutely make time for guilt-free relaxing.

This. If you engage in a guilt-laden form, it's not really relaxation, and thus has little utility—rendering it a waste of time.

Re: Ask HN: How do develop a side project when you have a 40hr/week job?

#47

Post by squiggy22 »

Dedicate time to doing. I took at least one day that was me time, where I went to Starbucks after work and spent a few hours every week cranking out code. The disconnection from your home life, whether that be your significant other, or the mountain of TODOs around the house helped me to focus massively.

Don't beat yourself up over it taking a long time to get something together. Its going to take a lot longer to get a side project off the ground whilst working. I found that the first few weeks were the hardest, mainly because you'll be looking at a project that looks like nothing. As it evolves over time, it'll start to look like something and as such this in itself is motivation to find the time to work on it.

Stupid as it sounds. I also didn't buy a domain. You might think that 'oh I have an idea I'll buy a domain and go do it' but the inverse was true for me. The amount of domains I have that I have done nothing with is testament to that. The risk of someone else buying the domain I wanted was motivation, anyway, domains don't matter in the general grand scheme of things. If your product isn't shipped, domains aren't worth shit.

Focus on small wins. Create a Trello board with a few columns. TODO, DOING, DONE. Keep the tasks small, and when you have them done, move them over. Whilst not directly an answer on "where to find the time" it will help to keep you motivated to have a big column of "DONE" with stuff in it. Especially when you are going to have nothing visual at the start.

I have an extremely understanding partner, but I also set aside time when I put the laptop down. Stupid as it sounds, actually working on a laptop rather than a desktop worked for me as when everyone else was watching tv, I could code, and you can take your work with you so when you have some free time you can work.

Re: Ask HN: How do develop a side project when you have a 40hr/week job?

#48

Post by datashovel »

I personally would suggest thinking about the project in your spare time first. I find that it's so much easier to context switch if my objective is only to think about a problem I want to solve. This way I can do this a lot more frequently throughout the week with little to no effort.

And only once I've thought enough about it, and am comfortable I have a solid plan and have carved out a precise scope / objective for my coding session, will I open an editor and start coding.

The trick I think is once you can visualize exactly what you want to do you can knock it out relatively quickly. I think it can become stressful if you're always sitting down to code in your spare time, when you're not prepared with a specific plan. You can waste a lot of time spinning your wheels when you do that, which in turn can make you feel like you're wasting a lot of time and have nothing to show for it.

Re: Ask HN: How do develop a side project when you have a 40hr/week job?

#49

Post by blizkreeg »

I hope your job is easygoing, not stressful, and <= 40h/week. If not, find one that is. Next, wake up early, work for an hour or two before the job, get home at 6 and work until dinner, and after. Work on weekends. But most importantly, find a co-founder/partner to work on your ideas with you. It will keep you going. And make time for relaxation as well, you will need it to keep going.

Re: Ask HN: How do develop a side project when you have a 40hr/week job?

#50

Post by [deleted] »

thriqon wrote: post #36
hn9780470248775 wrote: post #17

Another question: How do you develop a side project when your employer insists that it owns all intellectual property you produce? Edit: As far as I know this is a very standard clause in tech company employment contracts, and is perhaps the legal default even in the absence of such a clause. For example, see "Employed to invent" under http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/pre-invention-assignm... . California is an…

In which country is he legally able to do so? He shouldn't be able to control everything you do... I've experienced attempts for that, but not all clauses are enforceable.

[deleted]
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