How do people manage their side-projects?
March 14, 2021
I recently had a conversation with my colleagues through Zoom. I was complaining about my growing list of IT stuff that I want to do (including this blog). There are so many interesting projects and frameworks that I want to check out, but I feel so overwhelmed by the amount of time I would need to get them all done. Sometimes, this can lead to a bit of frustration. So I asked my colleagues about their experiences and how they do it.
Their initial reaction was to laugh. Shortly after a “Welcome to the world of IT” followed. They told me that everyone has the same “problem”. It is almost impossible to work full-time, take care of yourself, maintain your social relationship, AND learn new technologies and frameworks. Not gonna lie, I was thinking that this really sucks. Honestly, my “check this out” bookmark folder is getting bigger and bigger. It annoys me that I don’t find the time to do any of those side-projects.
I got following advice from my colleagues. Firstly, accept that it is very difficult to maintain everything I mentioned above. Secondly, realise that there is also a danger in it. One of my colleagues put it in a way that I really liked. It was sort of like this:
Everyone knows the saying “Make your hobby your job and you never work a single day in your life”. People seem to forget that there are downsides to it. All this is fun and games, but what if you turn your hobby into a job and it becomes exactly that, a job? There are good days and there are bad days. There is a chance that you might have a bad day at work and when going to a side project you are confronted with the same feelings because it reminds you so much of your job. You won’t have a way to vent or to release stress.
So what is the solution? Am I supposed to just forget about those things and delete my bookmark folder? Well, sort of. The solution is, as simple as it sounds, prioritisation. Revisit your bookmark folder or to-do list every now and then and think about what is actually feasable to do. One of my colleagues has a rule of thumb: everything in that bookmark folder that is in there for a month and hasn’t been touched yet gets removed from that list. If it is really that interesting, it will come back again. Also, if your research topic is related to your work, you should be entitled to deal with it during regular work hours.
It’s a bit demotivating to know that there is usually not enough time to check out all those new frameworks or dope technologies that are out there in the market. However, it does make sense to think about how you want to spend your time, as it is your most valuable asset. So I decided to make a prioritisation based on three criteria:
1) Do I want to dig really deep on this topic or just read the surface of it?
2) Will this topic help me get a job in the future?
3) Can I monetise it somehow?
At least in this matter, my personal interest is above everything else and I want to be able to enjoy the time I spent on side-projects. However, as I am just at the beginning of my career, there might be skills that can be learned during my free time that will eventually help me land a certain job. Lastly, if have a chance to maybe create a website for someone or to develop something that can be sold, I might want to pursue that as well.
At the end of the day, prioritisation is a very personal topic and everyone should decide on their own how they want to go with it. I am just thankful for my colleagues that shared their experiences and gave me some food for thought.
I would be really interested in your experiences and how you handle your side-projects. Feel free to slide in my DMs over at Twitter.
Cheers!