Hey peeps! Sloan, DEV Moderator and mascot, coming back at ya with another question submitted by a DEV community member. 🦥
For those unfamiliar with the series, this is another installment of Sloan's Inbox. You all send in your questions, I ask them on your behalf anonymously, and the community leaves comments to offer advice. Whether it's career development, office politics, industry trends, or improving technical skills, we cover all sorts of topics here. If you want to send in a question or talking point to be shared anonymously via Sloan, that'd be great; just scroll down to the bottom of the post for details on how.
Let's see what's up for this week...
Today's question is:
I've seen a lot of impressive year-end wrap-up posts, New Year's resolutions, etc. As someone who really doesn't document my yearly accomplishments or push myself in the same way, it makes me wonder if am I doing enough. I'm a developer at work, but when I'm off I don't write in a blog and only occasionally work on side projects. Are there other folks out there in the same boat? How do you deal with these feelings?
Share your thoughts and let's help a fellow DEV member out! Remember to keep kind and stay classy. 💚
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Top comments (4)
There's lots of folks that don't write blogs or/and don't do side projects, and that's totally OK.
In fact, the external validation people seek by writing blogs or journaling their way through pet projects (this "learning in open" or "building in open" or whatnot) is not something one should pursue really.
It's usually done with some goal, some clear intent (find a job, get subscribers, promote some course, or even just highlight one's "buy me a coffee" thing). Which is not bad at all, don't get me wrong, you do you. And the results are often nice (though these days there's not much of a good content around unfortunately). That's why we're all here.
BUT, if you don't have such a goal and don't need it, you don't need to write something or make some millionth todo app (unless you passionately want to).
Are you ok at work? Are you enjoying your life outside work in other respects?
That's what's important.
The person who regularly posts about their side projects isn't a better developer than the person who doesn't - they're just more visible. While that can sometimes be useful (if two people go for the same job and one has a ton of relevant content on display...) it doesn't mean much else.
You could equally look at the situation and say, "am I spending too much time writing dev-related posts when I could be out walking down the beach?"
I always seem to feel like I am not doing enough and yet I tend to take on many projects at a time.
Dude, you doing enough. Don't compare yourself to other people then you will fall into that trap. You will know when you need to do more. Till then kick back relax and do what you do.