Could you estimate how many projects are you normally working on simultaneously? Are you the type of person who works on a "start-to-finish" basis or do you like to switch between the projects in the making?
For example, I usually keep around like 10 projects. Out of those 2-3 are normally larger scale projects and 5-7 are for learning/testing purposes.
Top comments (41)
I usually have 2-3 going simultaneously. I read a great tip once that said when you get stuck/bored of one project, you can then "procrastinate" by working on the other. That helps keep my mind fresh and inspired for when I go back to the original project.
I do exactly the same and it is efficient and good for the progression for both projects I'm on.
That's exactly why I love to switch between projects. π―π
What a magnificent piece of advice!
I would say that software projects are never finished because they continue to evolve. As you grow, you look back at older projects after a few months you realize that there are things you can change and improve upon.
Hahah, from personal experience revisiting them over longer periods of time brings up another dilemma: an urge to rebuild them completely from the ground up using some new tech stack you have mastered, due to improvement in performance, etc. ππ
It's especially appealing since you know all the working principles and the building blocks of an app, as you have already done an app once, meaning, depending on how proficient you are in the new stack, it would not take much time. ππ
This is really true. I had one project I did in vanilla JS, then moved it to Vuejs, then moved it to Mint, and is currently alive using Svelte! But, each move brought new items and expanded usability (It all runs in NW.js as a desktop program).
Very true. I have done that. If you rebuilt projects from scratch you can make them bigger, better, and stronger.
This is especially true for CRUD projects you are responsible for on a daily basis π
You just don't want to drag some 'old' stack with you π Instead you want to work and improve on your new stack. π₯
Agree with this π―π Revisiting them always brings new ideas, based on your improvement in tech skills and general knowledge on software building principles and best practices you discover over time π
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It's best not to ask
I was expecting "too many to count" to come up πππ
There's a reason I wrote
Let your side projects languish
Matt Ellen γ» Aug 28 '20 γ» 1 min read
I needed to give myself an excuse π
A start-to-finish approach has many advantages, higher focus and less distraction. In reality, most projects will stop at some point where I need feedback or material from other people, so there is time to switch to another topic. Another reason for a break is some task or project with a higher priority or closer deadline.
While I like continuous work and focus, it can get boring. Like @zedvas wrote, procrastination on another project is a productive way to procrastinate.
I also have several side projects, mostly for learning and experiments, so they are not supposed to be "made" or completed anyway. Then there are long-term projects like a blog or portfolio, that require regular updates from time to time.
Without counting unstarted projects (they might already have a concept and some lines of code but await customer approval) and stale ones (unfinished code that has become outdated or irrelevant) I usually work on more than 2, but less than 10 concurrent projects.
Thanks for the insight ππ
I used to have like 10 projects, but as time passes I realized that I barely worked on any (school and working prevented that). So at the beginning of this year I cleared my projects folder and created a Notion database with a list of projects to build.
Right now I started a projects and ince that's done I'll move on to the next. Sometimes it's good to know your capacity.π
I have a folder in google drive for 'Ideas' (no code / just mental anguish, lol), and another for 'Projects' (I've done /something/ with it). Every once in a while, I peruse the folders and dream.
ππI feel you.
This makes me wanna create a public repo where everyone can dump their projects and sit and watch together as they pile up.π
All of them?
Personally, more seriously I have about 3 that are 'current' as in I'm planning on returning to them in the near future.
I also have about 7-10 future projects that have initial planning done, and are waiting on cycles to flesh out the details.
Professionally, for work, about 4. I usually have tasks assigned on multiple projects in a sprint and require feedback/input on those tasks during the sprint so they get worked on until that happens, I reach out and context switch. Not idea, but it's the reality of the situation.
Seems like a lot of sides to be responsible for π
I'm a software developer at a company who's primary product isn't software. But we integrate with TONS of vendor stuff and have lots of internal products to fill small gaps. We probably have about 150 indivudal software products, comprised of 1-4 components (binary, web, data, reporting assets)
Only having to keep 4 projects in my meat-based-memory at a time is a good day.
At one point, I was the internal software developer for the company I worked for at the time. I developed many small programs to automate things in the company (ASIC International - We developed ASIC chips for other companies). Internal company software is a common thing.
I had worked for another company that built embedded diffibulators where everything (OS, hardware, software, etc) was internally made. Very inefficient and a maintanance nightmare, but it did work well together.
Iβm currently rotating around 14 side projects. Way too many. Iβm mostly focusing on 5 projects with one (Modal File Manager - github.com/raguay/ModalFileManager) taking most of my attention right now. All of them I use daily to automate my tasks in my freelancing work.
I've got different types of side-projects. Some side projects are for just messing around, to learn new things. These types of projects can "finish" if I feel like I've learned enough on the subject.
For other projects, which have an actual utility for me, are never truly finished. For example, I've been maintaining this utility I use at work for developing from containers. I've been maintaining it for about three years and its still not finished because I keep changing what I want. More recently decided to move to rootless containers.
At the programming level or the life level? It's been said that when you die there'll still be things to do in your inbox. It's great having a BuJo because fewer things fall through the cracks, but there's still 48hrs/day of things to do and I do need to eat and sleep.
Over on Exercism I've got 26 language threads going (at various stages of completion).
For me, finished projects are the exception and not the rule... However, almost always I don't need to finish a project to learn what it has to teach me.
When I do finish one, it usually is the spin-off of the spin-off of a currently unfinished project π
And even those are open to further extension, so rarely a project is "finished".