Comment by hnquestion12345
3 days ago
My living situation has been a bit chaotic over the last few years, mostly moving around between family members so I haven't really had a good working environment. Usually just a spot I can place my laptop down. I do think a better environment would help me out. Sometimes I go to Ikea and wish I could have a nice desk and setup.
It's funny you mention washing dishes because that's one of my favorite ways to relax haha. I really enjoy things like that but when I see all of things people are doing, especially on this site, I start to feel like, okay I have to create something cool to keep up. I feel like I can't just enjoy simple hobbies like reading and drawing without doing something "meaningful".
I'm really going to try the side project thing. The things I want to create always end up so grand in scale. Yesterday I had an idea and I was already looking for best ways to make it cross-platform before I even did anything with the idea. All the stuff around that takes away from the fun of the idea and adds so much complexity and I just let it go.
Rent a private office. Preferably with 24-hour access. Wifi is a bonus and commonly included. It helps to have dedicated workspaces. A coffee shop could work if it has a good setup for coding & good coffee. Create the space for the project, and then you'll have the time for side projects.
As for design it takes time but being able to dedicate time to the top-down grand scheme and then go bottom-up is crucial for any size project. What are the fundamental requirements? Keep it simple. Deconstruct all aspects into single-purpose functions. One input, one output, & repeat. The ongoing pattern is to change the level of abstraction used for reviewing the project at any range, from a function to the whole project. These reflexes take time to build, and working on a side project daily is an excellent way to discover what patterns work best for your programming style and the project you're working on.
And big project ideas provide a field of side projects to discover. So wade into the water and find some fundamental piece of your larger idea. And then zoom in on that. When you're considering optimizations of compiled code to run a single binary on a static empty container image, you've gone deep enough.