Motivation was sporadic. I'd have a few weeks of intense focus, followed by months of inactivity. The nice thing about compilers it that 90% of their code is interesting, so there was always something fun worth coming back to. Besides, I put other projects on hold so I wouldn't get distracted.
I don't always know the best way to do something, but so long as I know some way to do it, I can make progress. Tough bugs are just a matter of perseverance. And hey, if it's still not working, just drop the feature. In a personal project, you can do that and nobody can stop you.
One more thing: don't talk about your projects until they're 95% done. Seeking early validation is a poison pill.
If you don't mind: What would you working on it look like, on a typical work-day look like, hour wise? Raise up at 5am and hack away for 2h, or come back from day job and straight into the fun thing, or wait a bit and than hack away... What worked for you?
Lately, I seem to manage 1-3 days of coding on my hobby project after work, provided I have some features where I can see meaningful success within 90 minutes of coding (+ the same time for debugging or researching new libraries, if needed)
I think it helps that I'm not working as a software developer right now, so I have more energy for coding projects. (I'd like to write software professionally, but no company responds to my applications.)
Regarding time, I have thinking periods and coding periods. On thinking periods I'll take a 30-60 minute walks and figure things out in my head. On coding periods, I'll spend 1-2 hours in the text editor per day, sometimes more, at whatever time suits me. It's pretty laid back and I don't beat myself up if I stop.
Sorry for the assumption and thank you for your answer! Regarding time, I work similar. In work-life, it gets a bit more muddy (basically the time talking walks expands and turns into time spent in meeting, talks, support etc.)
I would encourage you to ask here on HN and maybe also over at reddit (i.e. https://old.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions) for feedback on landing a software dev job. Getting the foot in the door can be tough, after that it get easier. I wish you best of success in landing a job! :)
Edit: It might be a good idea to mention your current job search in your most visible comments here in this thread. Also, you could mention it on your website! ;)
I strongly agree on the last point about early validation, albeit with two exceptions: when you're marketing a product you want to sell and want to generate hype, or your product requires early feedback. I've kept things hidden to keep myself motivated only to find I was left with the horribly unmotivating task of shudders marketing. Also, my friends who I thought would love it had fundamental changes they'd want to find it useful.
Thanks for the response! My projects aren't that far along, but this echoes a lot of my experience and helps me remember these are common feelings.
> I don't always know the best way to do something, but so long as I know some way to do it, I can make progress.
This helps a lot. Thanks! One of my issues is being able to be ok with feature gaps or bugs. I can solve them if they were created by me, but there are some that need outside help as they are likely bugs in external software or even drivers. But maybe it makes sense to press on and revisit later.
> One more thing: don't talk about your projects until they're 95% done. Seeking early validation is a poison pill.
Is this because you draw attention to an unfinished project, get distracted by feature requests or praise, or something else?
Yeah, external bugs suck, but usually there's workarounds.
> Is this because you draw attention to an unfinished project, get distracted by feature requests or praise, or something else?
If you get a bad reaction, you'll be demotivated. If you get a good reaction, you'll feel satisfied and not have the drive to keep working. Either that, or you'll devote more and more time to posting on social media, getting less work done in the process.
> If you get a bad reaction, you'll be demotivated. If you get a good reaction, you'll feel satisfied and not have the drive to keep working.
This is so important, and not only for sw dev but anything.
Anyone who is struggling with completing personal projects, try starting the next one with the explicit goal to not speak about it - with anyone - until it's either complete, or very near. It may be hard to do at first but ultimately worth it.
I don't always know the best way to do something, but so long as I know some way to do it, I can make progress. Tough bugs are just a matter of perseverance. And hey, if it's still not working, just drop the feature. In a personal project, you can do that and nobody can stop you.
One more thing: don't talk about your projects until they're 95% done. Seeking early validation is a poison pill.