I don't think I've ever been able to fully commit to a coding project. Like a BIG project. A so called 'real world' solution. A non 'toy' project. (I really don't like the term 'toy project').
Deciding what kind of app to build is a common struggle, specially when you're trying to fill a portfolio with worthy projects that could potentially get you hired. This mindset ends up giving me a lot of anxiety, which is the reason why I end up loosing steam when starting a project. It just takes the fun out of it.
This is why it's so refreshing to read people like Julia Evans. In one of her recent posts she goes through some cool little programs she's built, but what really struck me about the post is her reasoning on why do them in the first place.
So let’s talk about that! I like to write small programs that have some marginal utility in my life. Kind of like this:
- ah! A minor problem in my life!
- I know, I bet I can solve this problem with CODE. YAY.
- 4 hours of happy programming ensues
This isn’t always the most practical (many of the problems I’ve solved with programming could have been solved in less time in other ways), but as long as your goal is actually to have fun programming and your programs don’t hurt anyone else, I think this is a great approach :)
This reminded me of Sara Vieira's talk about building dumb shit which has a similar vibe. I think we sometimes take things too seriously and forget to have fun.
I wanna get back to having fun and make tiny silly things.