[rustyboy]

this is really insightful, i am nearing ten years as SWE - i've always loved passion projects and learning outside of work. This has historically got me really far in my career. However I just started a new role as a team lead on k8s platform. I rushed out got a few NICs and started setting up a homelab to learn but havn't spent more than a few hours working on it in weeks.

for the first time in my life i'm starting to think that my hobbies outside work (and the majority of my identity) has very little to do with software.

i had never thought about how much my work was tied to my identity and it's extremely jarring.

[datavirtue]

Nearing 35 years and it started with side projects and will end with them. However, now I care more about getting high and hiking than I do about my side projects.

I actually shipped a product back in 2007 and supported it for years. Haven't shipped anything since but I am working on a scoped project that I hope to release across macOS, Windows, iOS and Android. Not looking forward to ironing out the cross-platform wrinkles as I'm so brutally lazy anymore.

[rustyboy]

do you find that the side projects are for: fun, learning, or some external pressure like the parent suggested?

what I find is that picking up a new hobby causes me a lot of mental anguish. there's a lot of very basic elementary blocks to learn. however with tech, i always have this hard skill in my back pocket that avoids those initial difficulties. if I want to learn a new language or framework, i'm not starting from scratch but a vast web of other learnings (and I slightly like the stuff so that helps.)