If you have an idea for a project, and have time to work on it, I say go for it! Don’t worry about not being as experienced or knowledgeable as someone else. If you develop something that gains traction, you will find ways to improve it over time. The truth is that plenty of successful companies and projects begin with less than perfect code or technology choices.
An idea I had recently was to built a basic web app that allows a regular user to create a basic, but stylish, resume.
There are a bunch of similar apps out there, but those either require some form of payment either had some major design flaws that prevent me to use it.
I could make time for it, but I didn't know where to start. What technologies should I use? How do I start working on it without have to re-invent the wheel etc.
Sadly, I allowed myself to be overwhelmed instead of putting down all this concerns and working on solutions. And that's how I ended up here.
I'd probably start by figuring out how to generate an export from html/css that generates pdf (and ideally word) format documents. These formats still seem to be pretty locked-in, so I think you'd need to do that for something that other people will use. The next step would be to create some pleasing template designs using html/css. Polishing this will take time, so I'd just get something reasonable working first. Once your platform is up and running, you can keep improving existing templates and adding new ones. The last step would be to create an easy-to-use form wizard that allows people to enter in their own data for the resume. Once you have at least a reasonable minimal implementation for each of these 3 steps, you basically have the core of your application.
To avoid feeling overwhelmed, just focus on each task as its own separate thing, without worrying about the weight of getting the whole project done. I find breaking things down and just concentrating on getting individual pieces done reduces my anxiety a lot!
I posses great passion in technologies that help to improve better living. I have a deep interest in working in the field of technical evangelism.
Author of Iris web framework.
Location
Greece
Education
International Hellenic University
Work
Back End Go Engineer at PNOĒ | https://www.pnoe.com
Great article, I have similar life experience too :) That's how I created the (nowadays) popular Iris web framework [iris-go.com] so yes, I agree with @nestedsoftware
, go for it Jakob and if you need any help don't hesitate to contact other FOSS contributors (including myself) too.
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If you have an idea for a project, and have time to work on it, I say go for it! Don’t worry about not being as experienced or knowledgeable as someone else. If you develop something that gains traction, you will find ways to improve it over time. The truth is that plenty of successful companies and projects begin with less than perfect code or technology choices.
An idea I had recently was to built a basic web app that allows a regular user to create a basic, but stylish, resume.
There are a bunch of similar apps out there, but those either require some form of payment either had some major design flaws that prevent me to use it.
I could make time for it, but I didn't know where to start. What technologies should I use? How do I start working on it without have to re-invent the wheel etc.
Sadly, I allowed myself to be overwhelmed instead of putting down all this concerns and working on solutions. And that's how I ended up here.
I'd probably start by figuring out how to generate an export from html/css that generates pdf (and ideally word) format documents. These formats still seem to be pretty locked-in, so I think you'd need to do that for something that other people will use. The next step would be to create some pleasing template designs using html/css. Polishing this will take time, so I'd just get something reasonable working first. Once your platform is up and running, you can keep improving existing templates and adding new ones. The last step would be to create an easy-to-use form wizard that allows people to enter in their own data for the resume. Once you have at least a reasonable minimal implementation for each of these 3 steps, you basically have the core of your application.
To avoid feeling overwhelmed, just focus on each task as its own separate thing, without worrying about the weight of getting the whole project done. I find breaking things down and just concentrating on getting individual pieces done reduces my anxiety a lot!
Great article, I have similar life experience too :) That's how I created the (nowadays) popular Iris web framework [iris-go.com] so yes, I agree with @nestedsoftware , go for it Jakob and if you need any help don't hesitate to contact other FOSS contributors (including myself) too.