Fuck me in the eye...

2 years into full time development and I still can't get myself to work on a side project.

Am I alone ????

Leave the poor eyes, please

Instead, do a brainfuck

This is the way.

Side projects become a rarity unless you actually have time to put into them.

I don't think side projects are the norm, quite the opposite.

There's a whole world out there of very vocal developers who like to do side projects but they're just that, vocal, so folks think that's the thing to do... but I believe most don't.

There's a whole world of developer-isms that I don't think are very common, but surfing around on the interwebz you get a different impression.

I do them ... poorly, but nothing like the scale some folks do.

🅿️enis

This obsession with side projects as an industry norm needs to stop. Bin men aren't expected to be really into bins in their free time. Teachers aren't expected to teach in their free time. Lawyers aren't expected to have side projects around law.

If it floats your boat then by all means - grab a side project and enjoy it. But there's absolutely no reason to force yourself to do so, and you shouldn't feel even slightly bad if you just choose to Dev at work and nowhere else.

I don't have any side projects. No ideas.

A lot of us don't. When I was in high school, I found myself often looking forward to my CS homework but once I started working, I found I very much want to leave work at work and though I love coding, it is work, so I'd rather use my off time to do other stuff.

If you have something you really do want to build, then you should go for it. If you are dissatisfied with your job and don't have a tangle part of the product you can show to potential new employers, then go for it. If you just want to do smaller projects to try out a new language or whatever, then go for it.

Just don't feel like it's something all the other devs do and you're a lazy pos impostor for not doing it because that is not the case

I've always had side projects going. Why? Because I don't want to work for someone else for the rest of my career. I want to get paid working on my own thing, even though contracting for others is dead easy money and it will take a lot of effort to match that sort of income from your own product.

A couple of my projects were close to becoming a commercial reality, but because I don't want to work nights and weekends on top of a regular 110% job (there's always overtime...) I never quite get them over the finish line.

Got one going right now too. But will I finish it? Statistically: no. Hopefully: yes.

Damn y'all, I didn't expect this community to be so helpful.

Thanks so much ♥️♥️♥️

With all the work and also non-work stuff, really whose got the time?

It's not a crime or makes you any less of a dev if you don't have side projects.

@AlmondSauce it shouldn't be a necessity but then again it is understandable that side projects carry more weight in an industry that looks nothing like it looked 10 years ago. Bins haven't evolved that much.

@HotSh0t I have too many ideas and not enough time! If something cool pops up, make a small prototype and if you find yourself using it a lot and making it better, share it with the rest of us, get encouraged by particiption and see where you get. Anyhow if you no longer can/want to maintain it, just archive the repo on Github. :)

Does it count if you pauze your side-project indefinetly after spending too much time on it in a fast sprint?

@AlmondSauce I also hate that this seems the norm. However, I agree to having to stay somewhat up-to-date or at least keep developing yourself (possibly beyond your current requirements). Specialistic jobs often require you to follow the developments in your field. Be it through side-projects, reading, watching videos, attending seminars, etc. This also happens in Life Sciences and other fields since there is still progress every day.
But in my opinion an employer should ideally give you the opportunity to keep learning i.e. facilitating trainings or simply scheduling x% of your time for self-development (not gonna happen probably).

Luckily my employer happily pays for training as long as it's beneficial for the company...

Edit: next to some reading/watching I also feel like I shouldn't actually code as much in my free time since I want to have some rest from bugs once in a while :)

@NEMESISprj Oh, totally. Keeping up with things is important in this field. But training is very different from having a dedicated side project - and as you say, the former is often something that employers provide time and budget to do in any case.

@F1973 maybe

@F1973 no