- Think first, write later;
- Do not rush into purchasing servers. You might not need them for another 10 months;
- It takes away a lot of family time to do side projects;
- NOT playing any games saves tremendous amounts of time. Also applies to watching TV;
- If you get stuck - get some sleep. Morning brings you better ideas;
- Write proper abstractions or you'll end up refactoring everything way more often that you'd like;
- Side projects need a loo-ooooot of your will and determination

@irene Is it though...? Try it. Have a stroll in a park. Hike in the forest. Have a walk by the river. Get a garden. I find it more useful and MUCH more relaxing than games.

I don't like violence, hence no FPS or TPSes for me. Strategy and puzzle solving? Well that's exactly why I am a programmer. And these puzzles are more satisfying to solve! :) Racing? It gets boring after 100th lap anyway. Maybe it's just me, but I like doing things that give some results I can see/feel/use later :)

I find cooking something therapuetic, making breakfast usually bacon-pancakes feels pretty good; and it's a good start for a day

Yeah no, I can't exist without videogames

I see in the comments alot about video games... it does takes away a lot of your time, this is not to say video games can not be inspiring, relaxing, or even educational. (And yes I'm taking about games on steam) . But still, too much gaming is not healthy

Here is the thing though; a man needs his leisure time, and picnics could also steal your time if you go with friends and family. These things are not obsolete.

It's always about the balance, I'm a game developer so I won't give games up. But for me games is also a fun activity that I do with my wife. And if we go for a short walk or a picnic, I'm not playing anything that day, because I'd rather do my project or read or watch something useful.

I'd say play video games but avoid what waste your life.

..................
If I play dota I'll play minimum 2 games which takes around 2 hours
If I play overwatch I can play 4 rounds and take less than an hour. After marriage, no more dota for me.

"Do not rush into purchasing servers" - hate to be "that guy", but who purchases servers for a side project these days?!

@AlmondSauce I do. Where do you run your side-project app on? Your laptop?

@netikras Either AWS or some form of VPS, which I'm guessing you're including in purchasing servers. My mind jumped to purchasing physical hardare :-)

@irene Raspberry Pi?

@AlmondSauce I see :) Yeah, I meant any form of getting a server, be it buying, renting, stealing, building, etc :)

@netikras In that case I steal my servers ;)

(Well, not quite. But if you've got a reasonably established open source project, give Digital Ocean a friendly email - they're sometimes quite generous with sponsorship...)

@irene for testing of app inner workings? Yeah, sure. Why not. For load-testing? I doubt it. For actual LIVE PROD env? With 20-60 different µ-services? and a load-balancer? With HA clustering in disaster-recovery site (be it another RPi in your bedrom)? Don't think so :)

As far as we're talking about basic testing, comms, etc., I agree with you 100%. And it's the exact thing one'd need in the middle of your side project development :)

But imagining that buying a server before one's even thought about app's architecture is not the way to go.

@irene noone said "small", noone said "home" :D Think big! Dream big! Do big!

Nah. Games are the only thing that relaxes me (beside my girlfriend) . Everytime I am stresses, angry, bored. Everytime I don't have motivation.
Life is not only work, work, work. As much as I love programming, I don't think I will give up on gaming. I am talking about Single Player experience. Don't care about multiplayer.

Gaming was the one who inspired me to be a Software Developer. Gaming is the one who gives a smile on my face. Who relaxes me from all the stress in my life.

I know it takes a lot of my time. But for me it is not a time wasted for nothing if it really relaxes your brain.

I am not saying everyone should act like me. Some guy chooses to go to gym. Some other person chooses to go hiking or do some other activity. Everyone is different. But for me, being alone, playing video games on those lazy days where I don't want anyone around me, are they days that I get a full energy recovery l.

@irene Ayyy, Astroneer is great. I'll never get tired of it.

This: "It takes away a lot of family time to do side projects" is 100% true and many people will not understand what you trying to achieve. In fact, family or friends will think you trying to ignore them.

@netikras I see the problem here.
You are just as obsessed with your "projects$ as others are with their " games"

As someone said before, too much of {{your thing}} is bad, find the balance.

Make your side proyects smaller, or start actual projects with the right people, you can't expect to do all this shit alone like you are a whole devShop by your own where the only client is yourself.

@irene try getting a *decent* headphones to use at outside, go listen to music while walking, I mean, it made me feel less alone, because it was like singleplayer gaming, no one cares how you walk/play or what you listen/play.

@MegatonSettler just asking but, does it count as playing vid games as testing your own game? Or is it still busy-mess?

@melezorus34 testing your own game is work