TL; DR:
- Build the thing for yourself first
- A thin paid layer beats abandonment
- Free tools are still worth shipping
- No livestream this week. Sorry!
Why I Still Build Side Projects (And What I'm Building Next)
I'm twenty-plus years into programming and about fifteen years into my career, and I am still building side projects. That is not an accident, and it is not nostalgia. Building things is still the fastest way I learn, and it is still the advice I give to almost everyone who tells me their resume feels thin.
But something has shifted for me lately. I've gotten to the point where if I am going to sink my limited free time into building something, I should at least be open to the idea of charging a couple bucks for it. Not building a business. Not quitting my job. Just putting a very thin layer on the front of something I was going to build for myself anyway.
That small mental shift turns out to be a surprisingly good cure for the "ooh, shiny" problem that kills most side projects.
You can check out my full thoughts on this in the video below:
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