Rediscovering the joy of side projects
It’s been four weeks since I stopped working. But somehow, I’ve felt busier than ever. Keeping our kids happy, hanging out with friends, exercising, and looking for a therapist have taken a good chunk of my time. But luckily, I occasionally managed to find some spare time once the kids had gone to bed.
I used most of that time to rediscover a hobby I had neglected for many years: working on side projects.
I got into programming because I was fascinated with what computers could do. Not only did I want to make my own programs, I also wanted to truly understand how a computer worked.
Once I had mastered the basics, I began to create all sorts of software. I had so many ideas, most of them stupid but fun, and I was turning many of them into reality.
Soon, friends and family noticed that I was able to make the computer do things and started asking me for help. I jumped into any proposed project, because I enjoyed the challenge and because I was happy to help.
A little later, other people began reaching out to me too. They asked me for help, even offered me money for my work. I gladly took the money, but to be honest, I would have done most of the work for free.
Earning money simply wasn’t the reason I did that work, a fact that stayed true for the first years of my career. Passionately, I kept on learning, making, and sharing.
But over time, something changed. Work stopped being so much fun, money became more important, and my motivation dwindled.
I still had a job to keep though, so that’s where all my energy went. Eventually, I stopped working on my side projects altogether.
Those side projects, which used to excite and energize me, now began to stress and haunt me. I really wanted to keep working on them, but I was no longer able to. Throughout those years, they stayed on my todo list. Here, they slowly turned from a fun way to spend my time into a reminder of how little time and energy I had.
It’s been like that for years, and I worried that it might stay like that forever. Luckily, I was wrong!
About a week after I had stopped working, I noticed that I had more energy than usual. I also felt a desire to do something engaging and challenging. And because it was already late in the evening and there wasn’t much else to do, I just picked up an old, unfinished side project of mine.
At first, I just wanted to play with it for a while. But soon, I noticed the rough edges and gaps. I just picked the most annoying issue and got to work. Very soon, I had fixed it. Not long after, I had fixed yet another issue. I got into the flow and kept going way beyond bedtime. When I finally got into bed, my head was brimming with new ideas.
A few more days of this, and I had finished my side project! It felt great, giving me a huge confidence boost. So I decided to pick up another one of my dormant projects – and I finished that one too.
And now here I stand, some three weeks later, boasting of the following list of completed side projects:
- A chess application
- An app to play Conway’s Game of Life
- A simple Memory game
- A parking meter simulator
- An animated clock face
Although none of these projects have any real value, I’m still proud of what I’ve accomplished. I certainly learned a lot along the way, most importantly how productive I can be if I’m really engaged in my work.
When the time comes to choose the next step for my career, I’ll let this feeling guide me.