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Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

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Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#201

Post by tharkun__ »

grep_name wrote: post #197
giobox wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deploying Home Assistant is largely how I taught myself Docker, Kubernetes etc. Its much easier to learn solving a "real" example. You can learn a ton just trying to do a production grade home assistant deployment - move on to SSL termination at the load balancer with letsencrypt, try different deployment strategies for upgrading the server with zero down time, write custom extensions... etc etc. I've now got a small…

Ha, I also got most of my initial experience the same way :) I use k8s at work now, am somewhat frustrated with it and would like to run a k8s cluster at home, but I have a hard time justifying it. I'm not sure if a pi k8s cluster would make sense for me either, although I do have enough pis laying around for a small-ish one. I've considered ordering a couple (more) r210 ii's and making a cluster, but don't know what…

Setting stuff up in order to have fun with it and learn is always worth it. It's "always" worth it to use overkill on a personal project.

Of course you don't need that k8s cluster and of course you shouldn't really use pis. But it'll be fun. You could also just use 10 vms running on your computer and each vm is one node in the k8s cluster if you don't want to buy hardware. Then you see what happens when "hardware failure" occurs. I.e. you kill a vm without shutting it down properly. Or yank the power on one of the pis.

The point is, once you need it for a real project now you know how it works and when to actually use it and when not to. Heck all the stuff I set up on my single old 200MHz system, no vms nothing taught me basically everything I needed to become an actual sys/network admin later.

Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#202

Post by klardotsh »

shortcake27 wrote: post #170
flohofwoe wrote: post #97

I found fun again in two easy steps: (1) Unlearn the "large team workflow mindset" and embrace the "single developer mindset" again. You don't need a plan, a Kanban board or a bug database, just an idea in your head. Get rid of "big languages" which are good for team work, but just a hinderance when working alone. In my case this meant: dropping C++ and embracing C (today that would be: Zig). Focus on getting shit do…

> Unlearn the "large team workflow mindset" and embrace the "single developer mindset" again This worked for me. A few months ago I quit a really great job partly because I was struggling with motivation. Fast forward to today and I’ve got a couple freelance projects on the go which aren’t even that interesting, yet sometimes I can’t stop working on them. I think the large team workflow took far more of a toll on me…

Do you have advice stemming from your move from salaried life into freelancing? I started my career freelancing, but now a decade-ish later, freelancing seems both enticing (a way to find the "I work when I say I work, not when someone expects me to work" balance 4-day workweeks kinda get at, but also not really, and also a way to perhaps more freely select for problem spaces that interest me vs. whatever is the current VC hype train), but also terrifying (because I recall there being non-trivial overhead on the "business end", there's no long-term stability, there's not even really short-term stability in the sense of "I have bills and debts to pay that are not exactly negotiable", etc)

Love seeing such a similar quip about team vs solo work here. I find I get much more done when free to just explore and do what makes sense to me on a given day vs. whatever is someone else's priority item, and when I can use all the tools I choose (vs the tools someone else chooses for me).

Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#203

Post by plaguehammer »

I write lots of small shell scripts and aliases (using bash. I have only one script in zsh that does some globbing that zsh is better at out of the box) to do various things, like managing my music collection (on top of what git-annex does), converting and remuxing files, generating files etc.

The other day I wrote a little shell script to make a command-line radio player, which was rewarding.

I have a little shell script I wrote that is now a cron job on my laptop (running Arch GNU/Linux) that backs up my important files to a cloud using borg. That little bit of automation (a few dozen lines really) has been nice and fun to write, and gives me some good peace of mind.

Admittedly, some of shell script syntax (like that for hash maps) get take some time getting used to and is rather arcane, but I find running little scripts to do various day-to-day things around my life and the house rather fun.

Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#205

Post by mikewarot »

I'd recommend dropping your requirements to run on the web, and try out the fast, easy to use local GUI builder that is Lazarus/Free Pascal. It's cross platform, compiles to native code, and damned fast.

You build a form by dropping GUI elements into it, and hooking up events. It's almost trivial to build a CRUD application.

Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#206

Post by shortcake27 »

klardotsh wrote: post #202
shortcake27 wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unlearn the "large team workflow mindset" and embrace the "single developer mindset" again This worked for me. A few months ago I quit a really great job partly because I was struggling with motivation. Fast forward to today and I’ve got a couple freelance projects on the go which aren’t even that interesting, yet sometimes I can’t stop working on them. I think the large team workflow took far more of a toll on me…

Do you have advice stemming from your move from salaried life into freelancing? I started my career freelancing, but now a decade-ish later, freelancing seems both enticing (a way to find the "I work when I say I work, not when someone expects me to work" balance 4-day workweeks kinda get at, but also not really, and also a way to perhaps more freely select for problem spaces that interest me vs. whatever is the curr…

Haha my career was the same. Started off freelancing about 14 years ago and moved into salary.

I’m actually “taking a break” from work at the moment. I just happen to still have a couple of freelance clients from the old days because they’re great people. After I left my job, one of them had a project for me which was great timing, but I’m talking like 40 hours. And apart from that I’m only making a few thousand per year.

I agree with you 100%. As a way to make stable income, not great. And the overhead was one of the reasons I went salary. I don’t think I want to ramp up my freelance stuff again. When I’m done with my break, I’m going to try my luck at 3-6 month contracts. I don’t need much money these days, a 3 month contract would set me up financially for the rest of the year.

Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#207

Post by MrDresden »

hawski wrote: post #153
MrDresden wrote: post #104

Left my job late last year with the intention of striking out on my own. Instead I realized quickly that what drove me to quit had been the fact that the joy of coding had left me. And so for the last two months I have been working towards regaining it. And at this point I realize I have gained it back. The only projects I have been working on are small libraries and apps whose ideas had written down over the years b…

I think of doing something like this, but I'm afraid my problem is that I'm self-directed and my motivation comes from within. Working for someone makes it again a job and making me fix problems someone else have created within limits they envision. Is it different for you?

I think it is the same for me, to a degree.

A job always entails working on someone else's problems and working within constraints of their (or their field's) own making. So it could never compare equally to what motivates us when it comes from within. But we get paid to do that work, so it is not a bad exchange.

That isn't to say we can't try to be more picky about the positions that we seek out. The problem space might be motivating for us, or it might be that the coworkers are what drives us on. Perhaps the work life balance is really nice and the tech stack is either cutting edge or the internal practices are really solid.

Hopefully all of these can be true, to a degree (perfection is unachievable).

However if the place is occupied with rock star developers, corporate politicians as well as unrealistic requirements and time constraints then it is just a hands down bad place to work, and the dark cloud over your head has nothing to do with where your motivation comes from.

Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#208

Post by tyohan »

One thing that I like to do to keep motivate me building something is share how I do it. All comments, questions, and appreciation from the others keep motivate me working on something so I keep have a new knowledge to share.

People start build in public on Twitter. You might want to try it. Share your work, how you solve a problem, find a similar project that might be related with your work, have a discussion with the others to gain more ideas. I hope it help!. Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#209

Post by quickthrower2 »

I am finding NextJS (React) + Tailwind + Typescript a great fun platform for side projects. Some investment in time is needed for each of those buzzwords, but once learnt and passed the painpoints and footguns its a cool way to develop fast web apps. But if you are not used to web there may be a few months to get proficient enough until it becomes enjoyable. And I think that is key for me: joy comes from proficiency with the tools and creating not from learning then tools themselves.
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