I think this bit is quite important for Nigerian Developers, as it’s a great way to learn new skills and put yourself out there.
Here are the top reasons I work on side projects:
- Need - Most of the things I’ve built were because I wanted a service but I couldn’t find it or find it well implemented.
- Learning - Working on side projects help me learn new things - tricks, frameworks, language and tools. Technology is always changing. Doing new things is my best way of keeping up.
- Curiosity - How will this experiment turn out? What will it break? How will people react, interact and use it?
- Burn out - Working on side projects gives me the distraction to prevent burn out. When I work on the same thing for too long, I get bored and my productivity nosedives.
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@Kehers I completely agree with your reasons for taking on a side project especially the last which may seem not so obvious but in reality it is a fact. Generally, challenges that comes with side projects makes learning easier and simpler.
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It is harder to work on the same thing, side projects are usually a fun distraction, but when they start invading into the real thing, they need to be killed.
Also you can experiment with unproven technology or just expand your know how with side projects.
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I always preach this to every developer I meet. Unfortunately, the culture in software companies that are more traditional doesn’t encourage side projects.
Side projects are very good. But the pain in completing them😞