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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?

#121

Post by bigmanwalter »

kintamanimatt wrote: post #56
ereyes01 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This concept of moving to a different country and living on less hours of work sounds too good to be true. I've heard it proposed before, but I've never known of anyone who has pulled it off. Are there any good examples to read about? I've met really smart English-speaking developers from other countries (namely Brazil), and I didn't get the impression that they can laze around and work 22 hour weeks to put food on t…

My suggestion is a form of arbitrage and it's really quite doable. If you live in a cheap country and earn money in a more affluent one, you don't need to work as many hours. If you choose to earn money in the local market, you'll end up replacing one 40 hour work week for another. Your Brazilian buddies likely work locally which is why they have similar time constraints as someone living and working in NYC would do.…

How do you maintain your business development back home? Is it all word of mouth?

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

#122

Post by c23gooey »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #113

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 alth…

Second this.

I have young kids and am trying to build a side project.

I have found that an hour or two at night and maybe a block of 2-3 hours when my wife can take the kids to friends' place is the best i can hope for.

Its hard to get into any flow in these timeframes however its forced me to organise and prioritise my side project work more than i otherwise would have.

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

#123

Post by [deleted] »

peteretep wrote: post #69
hunvreus wrote: post #11

Same as for working out or cooking, you can always find time. I cut alcohol years ago and tend to go to bed at reasonable hours: the feeling of waking up at 5:30, getting a good workout and two to three hours of work before you even start to get ready for the office is pretty empowering. It feels like you already had a day worth of productivity in. So, to recap: 1. Don't drink (or drink in moderation). It leads to la…

> Don't drink (or drink in moderation) This was the key ingredient when I had two jobs and was doing an MSc.

[deleted]

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

#124

Post by drakonka »

I tend to work on my side projects for fun whenever I feel like it. Fortunately I'm really into my side project, so when I come home I often feel like doing some work on it no matter how tired I am after my day job. I don't really have dedicated times for it and do as much as I feel like or have time for that day, whether it's 10 minutes or 2 hours.

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

#125

Post by brianwawok »

An interesting observation.

If someone here asked "How do I have time to work 60h a week at my day job, 40h already feels like a lot" - You would get a lot of responses telling you about work life balance, and that 40h is plenty of work - heck in Europe they work 36.

On the other hand after coding a full day, most people here suggest going home and coding side projects.

I think each person is different, but this is HARD to do. If you are working and thinking real hard at your day job, I don't think you can really go home and do something useful on a side project. I have had periods where I spent 3 weeks going to meetings and writing tech docs - in those it would be easy to go home and code. But if I already put in a solid 40h of code? Forget about it, my brain can only code so much good code a week.

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

#126

Post by tasdev »

I know I'm coming late here, I really hope I'm not too late for you to read this.

I have two children - a four month old and a 5 year old. I tried working around the time they were up and I always felt guilty. I also work full time, loose an hour a day commuting (or there abouts), etc. The point I'm making is that I'm lucky to find a few hours free each day as it is.

Here's what I'm doing now and it's working well. Mentally, I'm in a good space, not feeling burnt out, feel like I'm seeing the kids enough, etc.

* I get up early. I have found going to bed early gives much better sleep. I am naturally an evening person so this was hard but getting up early (around 6am) I've found makes the days feel longer. This negates an anxious behaviour of mine feeling "there isn't enough time to do anything". Sometimes when I get up early I'll do an hour or so of work, othertimes I'll head in to my day job early so I can get out early.

* Learn about the pomodoro technique; it's invaluable and you can get a lot done. Break your work into Pomodoro slots (I use 25 minutes) and plan before you start. This way when you have a spare block or so you can just do that.

* Try to find 2-3 hours a day uninterrupted to work.

* Never forget you need time to yourself to unwind and relax. Make this a priority.

* Don't neglect your family. You will be far happier and productive when they're happy, at least that's what I've found.

* Never, ever work on weekends. You need time to yourself and do things you want to do.

* Get a good nights sleep

* Eat healthy. Make sure you get your 5 / 2 a day.

* Exercise during lunch. I go for a walk every day and love it.

Good luck! You'll get there with perseverance.

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

#127

Post by akulbe »

I have been doing this for a couple years now. I am about to make some big changes, as a result of the side work taking off.

I work early/late, so that side work wouldn't conflict with my day job. I worked Saturdays.

I'm a systems guy, not a dev as much as I really want to be. I'm getting into automation stuff, and learning enough programming to help me be a better sysadmin (Ruby, for Chef).

I'm always reading, and working to improve my skills (technical, and otherwise)

I took every opportunity to do side work, for some extra money. It's paid off well, and now the scales are tipping to where I've easily replaced my day job income.

I have an email address listed in my profile. I'd be happy to talk more, if you're interested.

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

#128

Post by akulbe »

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…

LOVE the mantra. It rings so true.

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

#129

Post by senjindarashiva »

Maybe a bit late to the party but id recommend reading How to live life on 24 hours a day by Arnold Bennett (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2274).

It's helped me a lot with the same issue. The main idea is to ensure that you don't overreach but start small and focus on improving or researching one thing at the time and only on weekdays.

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

#130

Post by Chris2048 »

fleitz wrote: post #110
Chris2048 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By that logic, The day before the full Marathon you ran a Marothon-1 minute, and the day before a Marathon-2 minutes... Even if you are capable of keeping that up, it might be better to increase distance, otherwise you might be just slowing down, making no progress...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory

Yeah, all my poor analogies are allegorical too...
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