Art projects & games are fun ways to learn.
Since you mentioned Python, Django is a good option to get started & build on a reliable foundation.
Ask HN: Haven't worked for a while, best guide/advice to start a hobby project?
51–60 of 147 posts
Re: Ask HN: Haven't worked for a while, best guide/advice to start a hobby project?
#52What is your goal with the project?
Re: Ask HN: Haven't worked for a while, best guide/advice to start a hobby project?
#53I have a colleague like you. Your problem is this: you say you want to build something cool, but then you follow up with "but every tutorial I read..." There is NO guide to building something new and cool. Yeah, you will build upon existing stuff, but you need to come up with your own plan and then research specifics to fill in the blanks. You may have to repeat work, so just accept that.
This is great advice. Stop making "learning the framework(s)" part of the goal. Pick something that is in the rough genre of what you want to do, and bulldoze through it to Do The Cool Thing. Accept that you will be working inefficiently and painfully at times. That's how you gain experience, and through that experience you will grow an understanding of how the frameworks differ from each other and which are most suitable for certain kinds of tasks.
Re: Ask HN: Haven't worked for a while, best guide/advice to start a hobby project?
#54Do everything with no framework. Vanilla JS, basic Rails, Basic PHP. Whatever you know the best, use it and build it. Don't get distracted by features. Until you have a working system, you don't need to refactor. Start with one tiny bit and move on from there.
Re: Ask HN: Haven't worked for a while, best guide/advice to start a hobby project?
#55> I feel like I'm behind 'bootcamp grads' because they can actually push deploy real code.
Probably you need to redefine what MVP means. Start with like a hello world app in Vue, and get it deployed to the point that you can show your friends. You want to build a feedback loop as quick as possible, and many tutorials skip that. So get to where you can build deploy and test ASAP, even if the features aren't really there.
Trying to include too many APIs up front is going to lead to a combinatorial explosion of problems. Learn VUE first (maybe a blog project or todo list or whatever is the popular tutorial project these days), then set about learning the Spotify API once you have a chance of knowing whether any given problem you encounter is the fault of spotify, the api, or vue =)
Re: Ask HN: Haven't worked for a while, best guide/advice to start a hobby project?
#56Why do you get bored and quit ?
Start there.
Re: Ask HN: Haven't worked for a while, best guide/advice to start a hobby project?
#57> but every time I start I get overwhelmed with what stack I should use, and how to actually get a ‘real’ application out.
Just start.
If the stack is your problem, just pick one. Any will do. Then just slowly start working towards your goal. There's no shortcut.
And this danger of getting stuck can come up again and again. For example you might be worried that the architecture you chose is bad, and you spend a lot of time making it perfect (which is impossible). Realize that the important thing is creating something, so you should ruthlessly push forward.
Re: Ask HN: Haven't worked for a while, best guide/advice to start a hobby project?
#58I have a colleague like you. Your problem is this: you say you want to build something cool, but then you follow up with "but every tutorial I read..." There is NO guide to building something new and cool. Yeah, you will build upon existing stuff, but you need to come up with your own plan and then research specifics to fill in the blanks. You may have to repeat work, so just accept that.
Completely agree.
Your only goal is build then launch. Be 100% focused on this.
Reading and learning will be required, but should be set against a specific task that is part of your product launch goal. You only need to research as much as is necessary to achieve the next task (that gets you closer to launch). Then you move on. Your code doesn't need to be a masterpiece. It just needs to work. You don't know which idea will be a winner, yet, so save the really hard work for the idea that sticks.
Re: Ask HN: Haven't worked for a while, best guide/advice to start a hobby project?
#59Basically you're an entitled millennial loser. Fuck off out of this profession you lazy little child .
Re: Ask HN: Haven't worked for a while, best guide/advice to start a hobby project?
#601. Think of a highly desirable role.
2. Visit the website of a company that you would like to work for.
3. Look for a role similar to your highly desirable role.
4. Read the requirements for that job.
5. Learn the skills / technologies listed as requirements for that job.
You don't even need to apply for that job, and you can do this as many times as you want.