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Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

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Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#341

Post by tartoran »

arkanciscan wrote: post #307
zulban wrote: post #86

I've finished loads of hobby projects, despite full time jobs, and I've been told that I'm a bit of an expert on this. I see there's lots of comments already so I'll keep it short. 1) If you can't focus on a project longer than two days, then pick a project you can finish in three days. Honestly evaluate how big such a project can be. I also see this as students learn to code. They learn the basics then think they're…

#2 so much! When I tell people my ideas I can feel the motivation dissolving. Trouble is, my ideas sometimes suck and I need another person to tell me they are good. But if that person doesn't get excited about the idea it takes the wind out of my sails. I think this speaks to why I became a developer in the first place; I want to solve people's problems. I want to be useful. If I tell someone my idea and they aren't…

It depends. It is not worse than not finishing if one learns from the experience. Secondly, personal projects do scratch some itch and bring a certain satisfaction and if if others appreciate it then that's a bonus.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#342

Post by LeonB »

LeonB wrote: post #326
corecoder wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I used to go really heavy on it. Had to quit it almost entirely, for both heart palpitations and anxiety.

Not to harp on about medications, but there are “non-stimulant” medications used to successfully treat ADHD as well, such as Strattera. On the non-medicine side, techniques like bullet journaling are useful, also having “accountability partners” — friends or groups you report in with each week to check on each other’s progress; things like that.

Exercise and mindfulness also worth mentioning. Good sleep also a biggie.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#344

Post by imtringued »

wcarss wrote: post #228
zulban wrote: post #86

I've finished loads of hobby projects, despite full time jobs, and I've been told that I'm a bit of an expert on this. I see there's lots of comments already so I'll keep it short. 1) If you can't focus on a project longer than two days, then pick a project you can finish in three days. Honestly evaluate how big such a project can be. I also see this as students learn to code. They learn the basics then think they're…

My answer takes from the Feynman approach to problem solving: have several projects laying around that you could easily pick back up to work on a little bit. The progress may not be constant, but it builds over time. This is a variation on the parent post's suggestion of picking a project you can finish in three days. I find that task can itself be hard, and is work that gets in the way of the fun work. In the past I…

Honestly the goal is to just write everything down. When I had been working on some too big to swallow projects during highschool I had lots of ideas but I couldn't implement them quickly. What happened is that by the time I was done with one major feature I had already forgot all the cool features that I planned in my head. Now I just write everything down even if my issues in the ticket system consist of just a title with no body. That way you can stop working on a project for 2 months and pick up right where you left it. The projects end up having a 50:50 split between issues and actual commits. In theory it also makes it easy for other people to contribute.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#345

Post by imtringued »

skinnyarms wrote: post #7

Maybe you need to examine what your true goal is. Why do you want a side project? Are you doing it because you feel like you are supposed to have side projects, or because you actually want to accomplish a goal? If it's the former, you could try to align the side project with another goal of yours - say learning some new language or framework. If you are just trying to build a portfolio you can come up with a (small)…

With portfolios it's perfectly ok to take existing ideas. Especially for learning purposes there is no way around duplication.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#346

Post by imtringued »

_hardwaregeek wrote: post #202

Get the stupidest thing done and finished. I started my compiler with waay too much ambition. I planned out a Hindley Milner type system but with row polymorphism. I planned out the entire syntax, records and all. But I didn't actually have anything done. I spent so much time trying to think about how to implement x feature or y feature because I thought I should get it all done at once. It took me maybe a year to fi…

The unpredictable schedule of a personal project means that you can't have unfinished work over long periods of time. You have 2 hours today. Get the smallest thing done to satisfy your goals for today no matter what it takes. You can always do it better in the future because there is no boss that interrupts you and tells you to work on feature X.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#347

Post by imtringued »

markus_zhang wrote: post #234

I have the exactly same situation and I also made a half ass engine for a 2d rpg with a map editor. I don't know what's happening, but whenever I'm pushed to do something, either by my parents or my boss or anything urgent (say I have an interview in a week), I'm suoer focused and can get tremendous amount of work done in a short period of time. However, whenever I set up a target for myself, out of curiosity or inte…

This probably has something to do with human nature. People want to be useful to others and feel like they are a necessary part of society. This is a pretty common argument against UBI. A lot of people actually want to work at their current job.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#348

Post by imtringued »

voidhorse wrote: post #198

I struggle with these tendencies too. For me, I think it usually stems from being interested in the product not the process --that is, if I could snap my fingers and immediately produce what it is I was envisioning (even though that initial vision is usually fuzzy) I'd do it. I think people who can stick with things long-term enjoy the process of what they're doing at least on some level. What enables them to stick w…

What you have described is just plain old discipline. I think the reason why side projects don't result in discipline is that they are just something you do when you have time for it. Work usually has a fixed schedule and any variable events are scheduled around work. Side projects tend to get disturbed by variable events and inevitably are delayed.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#349

Post by mcdevilkiller »

pharke wrote: post #313
arosier wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"maybe you already got what you came for." As someone who frequently starts projects and doesn't finish them, I've wondered if the part I enjoy about the project is the dreaming about what could be. That little rush you get when a new idea is upon you and it's all you can think about for x days. Doing the initial research and formulating a plan. This is a dopamine rush for me. The feeling of being laser focused for t…

As someone who tends to do the same, I don't think this is a good description of what is happening. The way I view it is that any project has the same progression of initial excitement, frenzied work and determination, discovery of the real scope, the descent into the Valley of Despair as you continue to wrestle with the problem and then the fork in the road where you either give up and abandon the work or you persev…

exactly what I feel

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#350

Post by mcdevilkiller »

agumonkey wrote: post #240
arosier wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"maybe you already got what you came for." As someone who frequently starts projects and doesn't finish them, I've wondered if the part I enjoy about the project is the dreaming about what could be. That little rush you get when a new idea is upon you and it's all you can think about for x days. Doing the initial research and formulating a plan. This is a dopamine rush for me. The feeling of being laser focused for t…

I'd bet a few dollars that this is the most common answer. A little piece of anecdata, being stuck, jobless and confidentless due to too much of this dopamine rush theory, i did propose to write something for my 'boss', at a food store, a little single user vue app [0]. a few conclusion : - i did actually deliver something functional (for a change) - i still had twenty thousand dreamy ideas (as noted in a lengthy TOD…

I feel so related to the third point.
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