Great article. I failed so many times with side projects until I internalised some concepts, some of them are on this article.
Once I read a quote from Ben, from dev.to, that I really related with. He said that, before he started dev.to, he wanted to work on something he would see himself doing 10 years ahead. Knowing what you'll still like doing after so long is the hard part and it takes a lot of experience and self-awareness. I'm 34 now and working on side projects consistently for over a year but before that it was all blured. You have to really be patient.
Also, build something super niche because you need to minimize the chance a big company will come and crush you, but this is another topic.
I'm the CTO of international video agency Wooshii and I run an educational media brand called Skill Pathway. I also occasionally chat to people on my podcast, The Learning Developers Podcast.
It's fascinating that Ben said that because we had a very similar framework when getting started. We had already been training, motivating and inspiring developers within the companies we worked for the last 10+ years, and because we loved it so much, we knew we wanted to do that at scale and in perpetuity. This means we want to impact millions of beginner over the coming years.
Hindsight is 20/20 but we do feel that if we had read this article when we were beginning to be mentors, it would have clicked much sooner and we wouldn't have wasted so much time on side projects that never came to fruition.
Your point about being super niche is great! The long tail wins in 2019 - and has been for a few years. You're far better off trying to build a product solving a specific need than trying to build the next Facebook - because then you're stacking the odds in your favour.
Have a great Sunday - although it is Saturday where we are! Feels like a Sunday though 🤔
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Great article. I failed so many times with side projects until I internalised some concepts, some of them are on this article.
Once I read a quote from Ben, from dev.to, that I really related with. He said that, before he started dev.to, he wanted to work on something he would see himself doing 10 years ahead. Knowing what you'll still like doing after so long is the hard part and it takes a lot of experience and self-awareness. I'm 34 now and working on side projects consistently for over a year but before that it was all blured. You have to really be patient.
Also, build something super niche because you need to minimize the chance a big company will come and crush you, but this is another topic.
Have a great Sunday
Thanks so much André!
It's fascinating that Ben said that because we had a very similar framework when getting started. We had already been training, motivating and inspiring developers within the companies we worked for the last 10+ years, and because we loved it so much, we knew we wanted to do that at scale and in perpetuity. This means we want to impact millions of beginner over the coming years.
Hindsight is 20/20 but we do feel that if we had read this article when we were beginning to be mentors, it would have clicked much sooner and we wouldn't have wasted so much time on side projects that never came to fruition.
Your point about being super niche is great! The long tail wins in 2019 - and has been for a few years. You're far better off trying to build a product solving a specific need than trying to build the next Facebook - because then you're stacking the odds in your favour.
Have a great Sunday - although it is Saturday where we are! Feels like a Sunday though 🤔