[vcool07]

I'm always curious to know whats the motivation behind these kind of side projects ? Is it just to scratch a technical itch ? To build a product for oneself because you are not really happy with anything else on the market ? Learn a new skillset ? Enhance the resume with a new cool project ?

[tgsovlerkhgsel]

At least for me, side projects are just another hobby. Some do woodworking, some garden, and very rarely is a hobby actually about the product.

Most IT people around me, like myself, enjoy building things. A side project is a good opportunity to do so "just because", without bullshit you don't like - no bureaucracy or approval, no story points, no project meetings, no design documents, writing tests and documentation is up to you. You just sit down, do, and get the feeling of actually making progress in a reasonable time and at the end of the day, having built something. It's energizing.

Sometimes, it is about the product though, and you build yourself a nice tool because you aren't happy with what's out there. Of course, the two goals can often be combined - and at the very least, some useful product is a good excuse to practice the enjoyable hobby.

[msephton]

For me it was to scratch the itch of creation. I live for the buzz of creation. There was also a degree of wanting to see how it was to create an app using the latest tools that I don't normally use, I link to a tweet where I suddenly decide to try and make this app, a flash of inspiration that it should be possible. If it had been more difficult, I would have surely given up and the app would not exist. But it was "easy" enough, and here we are. Plus, the original app has been stuck in my brain for a long time and I remembered it fondly. So, there are many factors... but adding things to my resume is not one of them.