I really love to see that. I believe great programmers are the one who've started countless projects from scratch on their own (of course my opinion is oversimplified here). This, 1PPM, is really what you're looking for if you want to become a great programmer. Nothing else, just that. So go for it.
A one-side-project-per-month challenge
11–20 of 121 posts
Re: A one-side-project-per-month challenge
#12One month projects sound great but with my busy schedule that would be only about 8-16 hours of butt in seat time, which isn't enough for a substantial project. I can think of some "toy" projects in that timeframe, though. And some peripheral utility projects that might be useful in the future. I've been at my "main" side project for more than 5 years with no end in sight. I wish I didn't have to have a day job. I'd…
That's what it's all about: to get something done and learn new things instead of (or in addition to) those long running, never finished side projects. I have a long running project too, 1PPM are my side-side projects.
One or two side projects is enough for me. Side side projects is taking it too far imo: there are other things I'd rather spend my time doing.
Re: A one-side-project-per-month challenge
#13Code is useless if it is for nothing. Don't write code just to write code, write code to solve a problem you are having. If you're having 1 problem per month, then write 1 project per month. If you encounter 50 problems in one month write 50 projects in 1 month. If you encounter 0 problems in one month, write 0 projects that month.
> Don't write code just to write code, write code to solve a problem you are having.
What if the problem I'm having is that I don't know Haskell?
It's totally fine to code exercises that don't serve any useful purpose. Just like it's fine for me to make terrible songs on the guitar that nobody would ever want to hear.
Re: A one-side-project-per-month challenge
#14Good software, like wine, takes time.
Re: A one-side-project-per-month challenge
#15Excuse my ignorance, but aren't we glorifying speed here at HN? I think one project per month is way too fast to acheive anything of substance. If you're spending one hour three days a week, you'll only have 12 hours to finish a project. Even if you quadruple that, 40h isn't all that much for completing anything interesting at all. I have spent more than a year off and on on my latest side project, and it's not finis…
I think instead of thinking about 1 hour three days a week, think about spending most of your weekends on the projects. You can get a lot done in 2 weekends.
It is a fast pace but I think the idea is to not set yourself up for huge projects that don't get done; work towards small projects that you can complete in a month.
Re: A one-side-project-per-month challenge
#16One month projects sound great but with my busy schedule that would be only about 8-16 hours of butt in seat time, which isn't enough for a substantial project. I can think of some "toy" projects in that timeframe, though. And some peripheral utility projects that might be useful in the future. I've been at my "main" side project for more than 5 years with no end in sight. I wish I didn't have to have a day job. I'd…
That's what it's all about: to get something done and learn new things instead of (or in addition to) those long running, never finished side projects. I have a long running project too, 1PPM are my side-side projects.
Sounds like a good idea.
What worries me a bit in this idea is that it takes a surprising amount of time to polish a project so that it is "done". Or at least left in a state where it is easy to pick up later, by yourself or someone else.
I have tons of projects where the "beef" is mostly done but README, example code, tests, etc are lacking.
Starting a project takes surprisingly long too. Setting up a build system, test framework, CI builds etc always take much longer than I anticipate.
Keep these pitfalls in mind. Best of luck to you.
Re: A one-side-project-per-month challenge
#17Code is useless if it is for nothing. Don't write code just to write code, write code to solve a problem you are having. If you're having 1 problem per month, then write 1 project per month. If you encounter 50 problems in one month write 50 projects in 1 month. If you encounter 0 problems in one month, write 0 projects that month.
> Don't write code just to write code, write code to solve a problem you are having. What if the problem I'm having is that I don't know Haskell? It's totally fine to code exercises that don't serve any useful purpose. Just like it's fine for me to make terrible songs on the guitar that nobody would ever want to hear.
My take with the analogy here is that you're still playing the guitar to make songs (an end product), instead of just learning how to pluck strings for the sake of plucking strings and testing how different strings of different materials feel for the heck of it.
Re: A one-side-project-per-month challenge
#18I'm surprised by all the negative reactions. Of course you're not going to be making anything substantial in a month (most likely). Instead, you'll learn to actually finish (or semi-finish) projects and ship them regularly.
This is very much like One Game a Month (http://www.onegameamonth.com/). The idea is that write, learn, ship. It's nice.
If you find that one of your projects takes off, or you really like it, then continue to work on it.
Edit: grammar
Re: A one-side-project-per-month challenge
#19Excuse my ignorance, but aren't we glorifying speed here at HN? I think one project per month is way too fast to acheive anything of substance. If you're spending one hour three days a week, you'll only have 12 hours to finish a project. Even if you quadruple that, 40h isn't all that much for completing anything interesting at all. I have spent more than a year off and on on my latest side project, and it's not finis…
> Excuse my ignorance, but aren't we glorifying speed here at HN? I think one project per month is way too fast to acheive anything of substance.
I think it's not about achieving anything of substance, it's about learning to code. Coding your own project from scratch is very hard and then effective for learning.
Re: A one-side-project-per-month challenge
#20My "side project" (or actually just one of them) has taken +10 years and thousands of hours.
So I just wonder that what kind of things that produce value can you expect to create in 1 month (assuming you're putting like few hours every day) ?