Ask HN: How do you find time for side projects working full time? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do you find time for side projects working full time?

9 pointsmib325 comments

I see some developers are doing really fabulous projects, and I also want to do it – I do have many terrific, how I think, ideas.

But 40 hour work week eats all my time! I barely have time to cook food, spend time with partner, walk the pet - the basic stuff, which I can't lose.

Should I just make the leap of faith, and if yes then how to come back to work after a fail, when my saved money ends? Is it necessary to quit the job? Should I pursue my partner to earn more (non-IT), that I could quit my job?

I am very lost, any tips.

View on HN

Hi, dont quit your job.

I dont waste much time with cooking or anything really, i do find some time and energy after work to work on my project. Typically the hardest part is to simply start (like each day). My trick to that is to just work for 5 minutes, do the absolute minimum, that is enough for a day but i also often end up working a lot more.

Does it really eat up all your time, or just your energy? I find side projects are great for getting that energy back. Don't plan for something epic. Start with light stuff, eventually it snowballs to more interesting things.

I played Dwarf Fortress before it was Dwarf Fortress; it was some weirdish game that you could run around and stab things, or use magic to teleport organs out of monsters. Minecraft when I first played was just something where you dig out a block and put it elsewhere. No combat, no crafting, just moving blocks around like old school legos.

If you want to quit, perhaps get your idea past the prototype stage.

Hmm, try to combine your OpenSource with your work. Ask your boss to make something for OpenSource as peace of your regular job. Try to sell him OpenSource. It should be something small in the beginning. After some time, you'll be working on projects more and more, and it will become a regular part of your paid job.

as a mobile dev I found my work pretty chilling so I do have plenty of time working on my side projects, actually I recently just finished a Hacker News reader using Flutter.

i would say don’t push yourself too hard if you don’t have time. I have gf and a dog as well and I’m gonna spend more time with them instead of focusing on my side projects.

Work on it over the weekend?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com