[sounds231]

I guess it depends on what you classify as “advancing your career”. If you’re a software engineer, building a side project from start to finish is valuable experience that translates. It’s especially valuable experience for devs with less work experience.

That said. I’ve learned that building out a product, even seemingly small things, takes a huge amount of effort as a solo dev. I built https://fretpro.app and it makes about $100/month (has been very slowly growing for the last year). I thought it would be quick and easy, but it took months of early mornings and weekend mornings (can’t code all night like I used to anymore), and can’t lie, my health and mental health suffered during that time. I’m much more selective with side projects these days.