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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?

#111

Post by volaski »

joe563323 wrote: post #80
reedlaw wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only do this if you want to be totally turned off by programming within a few months/years. Working 40 hours a week at a computer and then coming home for more is bad enough for your body. But beyond that, any single activity reaches a point of diminishing returns when engaged in to the exclusion of all others. It might not happen right away, but at some point there will likely be regret that you didn't spend more ti…

> Working 40 hours a week at a computer and then coming home for more is bad enough for your body. If this is the case then how to get financial independence? Are you suggesting that it is good to work forever?

Most people live their lives just fine without financial independence, because they put higher priority in other activities in their lives. Entrepreneurs are different types of people, they put higher priority on being able to control their own destiny and because of that they can push through the comfort zone. If you're not motivated enough, of course it would be hard to do this. If entrepreneurship was that easy and rewarding for everyone, everyone would be doing it.

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

#113

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

A little at a time.

Force yourself to do something every day, even if it's only 15 minutes of work. Write a blog post, research a technology, test some code, etc. Just do something to move your project forward. Progress is made in little steps.

As an aside, I've found that with kids, this is the way to get anything done. I just don't have large blocks of time I can spend working on stuff anymore. I've found that although it's inefficient to work in small increments of time, sometimes it's either make zero progress or make a tiny amount of progress.

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

#114

Post by deepsun »

chambo622 wrote: post #10
throwaway4338 wrote: post #6

Use your paycheck to directly pay a braindead coder with zero creativity or ambition who does nothing more than meet requirements, like you're fucking dictating to them. for added oomph they can be in a low-income country, but people with no creativity or initiative or ability to translate requirements into code aren't worth much anywhere. So rather than code anything yourself, just give htem requirements that read l…

Serious question: has any product or service of lasting value and success ever come out of an approach like this? It runs counter to most commonly-held beliefs on how great ideas turn into great products.

I can confirm, though I cannot legally name the products.

As a hint, it's pretty probable (if you live in US) that your healthcare financial information is managed by a system that I took part in development while being 2-grade student freelancing at the other side of the Earth. And many my friends did the same.

I've seen the biggest internet websites have their major customer-facing features developed by my friends, yet everybody thinks it was done in California.

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

#115

Post by jakobegger »

SneakerXZ wrote: post #105
jakobegger wrote: post #64

I worked on my first app next to a 40hr/week job. It wasn't really hard, since I liked my side project. My schedule from Mo-Fri looked like something like this: 7AM: Get up, shower, cook breakfast 8AM: Take the bus to work 5PM: Come home, buy groceries, cook dinner, etc. 7PM: Work on side project 1AM: Go to bed This worked well since I lived alone during the week (on the weekends I travelled to my home town and staye…

You are lucky, you need only 6 hours of sleep.

After a few days of sleeping only 6 hours I get irritable and slow though, and then I'll fall asleep on the couch in the afternoon. It's not sustainable, and probably not healthy.

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

#116

Post by dmragone »

mk4p wrote: post #96
rl3 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

What might constitute a guilt-laden form?

To me, this means asking the following: when you do something, do you feel guilty after? Do you hate yourself for playing 5 hours of video games every night when you know you could be productive? That's a guilt-laden activity.

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

#117

Post by rl3 »

dmragone wrote: post #116
mk4p wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What might constitute a guilt-laden form?

To me, this means asking the following: when you do something, do you feel guilty after? Do you hate yourself for playing 5 hours of video games every night when you know you could be productive? That's a guilt-laden activity.

For some, the video games might not even be games they particularly enjoy—just grindy/addictive games that have a superior numbing effect or sense of progress.

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

#118

Post by toomuchtodo »

rl3 wrote: post #99
mk4p wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What might constitute a guilt-laden form?

Engaging in a leisure activity while feeling guilt for doing so. It's probably safe to say there's a large overlap with procrastination.

WaitButWhy has a great piece on this idea: http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/how-to-beat-procrastination.ht...

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

#119

Post by toomuchtodo »

pc86 wrote: post #86
kbart wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Getting up early" advice definitely doesn't work for all people. I, for example, am more productive at evenings/nights and my brain doesn't work at until 9-10am despite of how much did I sleep a night before. The better advice would be "adjust the routine to your natural rhythm".

Has there been any scientific evidence suggesting this is the case? In college I struggled to wake up in time for 8am classes (that I had no interest in taking). Not surprisingly, a big part of the problem is that I was staying up until 11, or 2, or 4 every night. My typical schedule now (29 years old) is asleep around 9, up at 4:30 and gym 5-6:30 or so. Weekends are only an hour or so later than that, and it's been…

> Has there been any scientific evidence suggesting this is the case?

Yes. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/1185131...

Before the age of 55, the circadian rhythms of adults are completely out of sync with normal 9-to-5 working hours, which poses a "serious threat" to performance, mood and mental health.

Dr Paul Kelley, of Oxford University, said there was a need for a huge societal change to move work and school starting times to fit with the natural body clock of humans.

Experiments studying circadian rhythms have shown that the average 10-year-old will not start focussing properly for academic work before 8.30am. Similarly, a 16-year-old should start at 10am for best results and university students should start at 11am.

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

#120

Post by jwatte »

So what are you doing when not working? Maintaining a house? Watching TV? Stuck in a commute? Taking care of elder parents? Volunteering at the red cross? Raising a family?

Give up something you value less than development. Move closer to remove commute. Let someone else volunteer. Give the family involuntary free space.

How about: Find or make an alone space. Set aside 12pm to 10pm every Sunday for your project. You disappear from the world, and only do the project. No maintenance/family/commute/charity/TV is allowed to interrupt.

This gives you 10 hours per week, or 25% of full time. If you spend half of your working time in unproductive meetings, it's more like 50%.

It can be done. Is it what you want to do?

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