Why companies should support their employees side projects

Being a developer is 99% brain work!

We spend most of our time sited on a chair solving bugs, implementing new features, and scrolling through Twitter...

We must find ways to explain to our CEOs why we need to add a new node to our K8s cluster and to our POs why we should save extra estimation points for unit tests.

All of this requires a level of creativity and problem solving that many other professions do not require...

What do you do after work?

After a tiring day of work, we can not wait to arrive home, log in to our personal laptop and work on our side project. We can not get enough!! How many domains have you bought this year?? Have you started a youtube channel yet?

For us knowing how to code is like having a super power! With only just a laptop we get to transform into reality whatever we can imagine. However, there is a downside to this...

We get bored very quickly!!

I dare to say that the two most spoken words that come out from the mouth of a developer are: "coffee" and "bored"!

It's really hard to keep a coder in a company for more than 5 years because it's difficult to keep them motivated.

There will be a time when a company's product does not need exciting new features or experimental tech. It just needs better logging...

Developers need a chance to explore their entrepreneurial side

Companies should cultivate a culture of entrepreneurism among their developers. Here are some ideas:

Teach them about the business

Developers are very creative but lack the business and marketing background. By teaching your devs about the business side of the company and encouraging them to understand more about product building and marketing you are building highly valuable assets for your business

Listen to their ideas

Nothing kills the motivation more than being ignored. I have seen many of my colleagues suggesting brilliant ideas to their bosses that end up being ignored and the result was that my peers stopped trying to contribute and end up leaving...

Support their side projects

Many companies fear that by supporting their employee's side projects they will eventually lose their focus and eventually leave. This is wrong for two main reasons:

1- Is extremely hard to make a developer's salary from your side projects... XD

2- Being bored is actually the main reason why many developers end up working less and eventually leaving their jobs...

Virtual co-working space for entrepreneurs

If you are an employer that wants to support their employee's entrepreneurial spirit or a developer that wants to build their side projects with other indie makers have a look into the WBE Space.

It's an online coworking space where people from all backgrounds work together in their projects and support each other with feedback and tips.

Funny enough most of our members have a full time job and are happy with it :D