· 2 min read
Time off from personal projects is healthy
I took a break from personal projects for a couple of weeks and it's been great.
Most of this month was spent working on no personal projects other than fixes needed for apps already in production.
Not going to lie, it felt great. No stress in the evenings to produce or work on something I did not really feel like looking at. Sure, it took a few days to adjust to this idea but it worked.
When you have a full time day job it can be tough to constantly produce for side projects. You also have to ask yourself how much it is worth your time and what the end goal is.
After a few years of trying it is clear that I don’t have what it needs to turn side projects into full time unless I get really lucky and one of my apps takes off in a huge way (I bet every indy has said that right?). I’m fine with that, I’m at an age where I cannot endlessly code through night and day to make something and I have responsibilities that demand my attention along with personal commitments.
It would also be fair to say that the passion to create still exists but the competition these days as a solo dev is a challenge for even the most dedicated person when it comes to something to make a money.
So the good news with that is it leaves me in a place where everything becomes a passion or learning project without the burden of needing to replace wages. Although extra always helps and I still believe projects should cover their cost if possible, especially when it comes to the price of tools and services these days.
The other bright side of this is that it gives me an way to pivot to exploring ideas that would never make it as a full project. For example, “just how did they do that thing in a game or app” without needing to make a full version.
I did this recently on a live stream where I looked at how those survival games have enemies always moving towards you, similar to something like Vampire Survivor. It turned out to be pretty easy in Godot by the way.
So that was July. A quiet much needed break before the Texas heat bakes my brain for the next couple of months.
I am curious how this resonates with folks, reach out using the contact form and share.