I’ve just come back from a 5-month-long holiday 🌴☀️🏖️, and I still have 2 months to spare before returning to commercial work.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to make the most of this time. Since I’m a bit stuck in kicking off this new ‘project,’ I thought I’d write down my thoughts and struggles.
If you’re curious about how I’m planning to use these two months without paid work to improve my programming skills (and why I can’t seem to get my productivity back), read on 🙂
Background
For context, here’s a little background about myself:
- 9 years of programming experience.
- I consider myself a full stack web developer (.NET + React).
- I’ve worked the longest with .NET and C# (9 years), but I feel most confident with React and TypeScript (5 years of experience).
- I love talking to end users, product owners, and “business people.” Discussing ideas, finding weak points, and proposing solutions feels like being a kid in a candy store to me 😀
- I once led a team of up to 10 programmers but decided to return to hands-on programming, and I love it.
- My weakest point as a programmer at the moment is UI/UX design. I can create a nice responsive UI with CSS, but it always takes more time than I’d like. I started learning Figma but haven’t yet designed a real app with it.
By the end of February 2024, I quit my job and went on a few-months-long holiday.
After 5 months of travelling in SE Asia and Oceania, I decided it’s enough. Then I realised I had a rare opportunity: two months entirely dedicated to self-development, with no immediate need to earn money. This article is my attempt to navigate this exciting yet daunting time.
That’s more or less it about my background 😉 Let’s now move on to what I want to achieve.
Project Goals
As I mentioned, I have around 2 months to dedicate to something full-time, without the pressure of getting paid. I’m calling it a project, even though I haven’t defined exactly what it will be.
My current goals for this self development project are:
- Build or create something I can showcase in my portfolio. So far, most of my work has been on commercial, closed-source projects, so there’s nothing concrete I can show as a result of my work.
- Prepare myself to return to work in 2–3 months on better terms. This means securing a position with flexible or undefined hours, very few or no meetings, and working on interesting projects (fully remote, of course). This might be working on my own projects or providing services.
As you can see, none of the goals are financial. This means that whatever I do or create doesn’t need to make money right now—no pressure for fit-to-market ideas.
None of the goals are purely technical, either. This is both good and bad, as it’s the root of one of my current struggles: choosing what to actually do 😀 We’ll dive into those excuses soon.
I also have a lot of free time for the next 2 months. I’m even treating this as a full-time project (up to 8 hours a day). On the other hand, 2 months is not a lot of time for creating, for instance, an application from scratch.
Ideas
I have several ideas on how to use (or not waste? 😉) this time. Let me just list them here:
- Develop a mobile task and life management app. I’ve been using Nozbe for years (and even recommended it to everyone), but the team behind it recently stopped developing the app (they switched to a version for teams, which I don’t like) and also increased prices. I don’t find the app worth it anymore. I have specific needs for a task management app (like custom masks and computations based on them), so it could be a useful product for me. However, task management apps are so cliché… Anyway, there are unique ideas in my mind to make this app different from others and to make the process more fun. It would need to be a mobile app, since a smartphone is where I need it the most.
- Develop a mobile app for specialty coffee enthusiasts. It could help with tracking different types of beans, brewing methods, preparation conditions, and the taste of the coffee. Sounds like a cool app I’d use myself. Again, mobile-first is a must here.
- Contribute to some open-source projects. This should be quicker and easier to start. It’s also a nice way to show my activity on GitHub to potential future clients. Open-source contributions could lead to new connections and possibilities.
- Spend this time learning programming skills I feel I’m missing or not very good at. See: UI/UX, Next.js, authentication in .NET, etc. However, such “to-learn” lists are infinite (I guess you also have one 😛), and this involves mostly passive learning (watching courses, YouTube, reading blog posts). It’s hard to make it a practical experience, and there wouldn’t be much to add to the portfolio afterwards.
- Generally: build an app in public. Take one of the app ideas and build it in public. For instance, publish an update every day on Twitter and weekly on the blog. Or maybe share my progress on YouTube? This could work great or be disastrous and kill the project on day 1.
I had many more ideas, but I think it doesn’t matter much at this stage. These are just ideas. The only thing that matters now is the execution. But, of course, there are hundreds of blockers… eghm, excuses 😝
My Doubts and Struggles (Also Known as Excuses)
This is the therapeutic moment of writing this article. I want to lay out everything that’s blocking me right here, right now, on paper—all the excuses, all the reasons I procrastinate and write this article instead of getting things done 😉 I’ll shed a bit more light on each of them below.
Excuse 1: Leverage My Existing Skills or Learn New Ones?
Should I leverage my existing skills (.NET + React) and build using only those, or should I dive into a new technology like React Native? Does it even matter? Is the choice of a tech stack more important than the idea (goal, final product) itself? I’m a software engineer; technology is just a tool in my toolbox. But that doesn’t change the fact that a new framework or tool must be learned. Do I want to learn it now, on the go? Do I need it? What will learning React Native give me at this point? Do I want to become a mobile app developer? Will developing one app make me a mobile app developer?
If my ideas are mobile-first, is using .NET and React enough (I can always make it a PWA), or do I need a native approach (React Native, again)?
While the choice of technology is a major decision, it’s not the only thing on my mind.
Excuse 2: What to Do?
Which idea should I pursue? Are 2 months enough to build something I can showcase to future clients? Maybe contributing to open-source projects is a better idea than creating a product from scratch?
But… should I think about money here?
Excuse 3: Build for Fun or for Money?
Everywhere I look, people are building their SaaS applications. “Find the perfect market fit,” they say. “Don’t waste time building something no one will buy. Validate your idea before writing a single line of code.”
I get that. But I don’t want to do anything like that right now. I want to have some fun and learn something new. However, I still hear those little whispers in my head: maybe think of a “real” product idea… Do more market research… Find the perfect idea… They’re telling me to use my time wisely, not just for fun. But hey, who wouldn’t want to have fun for 2 months?! 😀
Excuse 4: How to Actually Start Creating?
I watched a fantastic React Native crash course (which is what I love to do when diving into new technologies). I was motivated to start working on Quiker (codename for my todo-life-everything-management app).
And then it hit me. How do I actually start this app? I need a design. But I don’t have one. Ok, let’s start simple with the login and register screens. But I still need a design. Should I learn Figma now? Should I design with StyleSheet or learn NativeWind (it looked so neat in the tutorial)?
I guess it’s going to be like that with anything I choose to do… So why not write an article instead? 😁
Excuse 5: I Prefer Writing About Doing to Actually Doing
As you may have already noticed, I prefer writing about stuff to actually doing it 🤷♂️ I’ve always been like that. I love sharing knowledge, writing, and publishing. My tendency to put everything down in writing has been with me for years. Maybe it’s actually an advantage? I need to think how to leverage that.
But there must be some boundaries here. Nevertheless, I decided to write this article after a few days of no progress on the project itself. We’ll see if it helps with the actual doing.
Excuse 6: Should I Build in Public?
My secret dream is to be a YouTuber. I actually started 15 years ago – pretty badly, but still 😅
I’ve been thinking about building an app in public. Sharing all my struggles and excuses (have I already started?). Showing how I’m learning and approaching the creation of something from scratch. Weekly updates on YouTube sound very appealing, but I’ve never done that for programming.
Building in public could have great benefits, like increased motivation and the accountability of a public declaration. On the other hand, it might kill the project if I put too much pressure on myself and stumble along the way. Especially if I… fail.
Excuse 7: What if I Fail?
What if I start building and don’t deliver? Even worse, what if I start building in public and don’t keep my promise? 🤯 I know rationally that I’ll learn something along the way, but The Chimp still keeps saying, “if you fail, you will be a failure”.
Summary
If anyone ever reaches this part of the article, I’m surprised (and honoured) 😀 I just wanted to get all my thoughts down on paper. At least I’ve clearly defined my current goals and discovered how many excuses I can come up with in 2 hours (the time it took to write this article) 😄
What if I had taken these 2 hours to write some code instead? 🤔 I wouldn’t have, anyway 😄 I simply needed this.
Have you ever faced similar dilemmas when starting a project? How did you overcome them? What would you work on if you had 2 entire months decidated to self-development as a programmer? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
