The Problem With Side Projects
Tags: hacktoberfest, webdev, sideprojects
Published: 2019-10-01 14:58:14

In college, I started building side projects.

I woke up early every weekend, and worked on whatever inspired me. I wrote music, invented recipes, and created a stock trading music rhythm game on Android. I wrote fiction about elevators that moved horizontally, and robot investment bankers.

On weekends, I was extremely productive. But weekdays were dreadful.

I attended University of Texas at Austin and studied computer science. In these academic CS classes, I was getting destroyed. I always felt behind, and could never focus on my school projects intently enough to complete them. I was barely keeping my grades afloat by copying answers from generous peers.

![bw](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/XEjVpNI6fdDASZRLe4kD00p2xXkC5OXeaQ0osMrQnP4ULPdZoEbjdhXUPL0yAe5uGZfhKumgoVGmvIDDrYHCZ9GrIWrh2SYYlySyiOjvX6W74xgOkdnrxTrcPxgjaL63f_UhOgrW)_Banner Warhol, one of my first side projects_

I also felt like something was deeply wrong. Why was it that these tools of creativity were being taught like an education in paint-by-numbers?

Computer science is about creating new software, not rebuilding stuff that has already been proven to work.

For my operating systems class, my partner and I were so disinterested in building a file system that we found the solution to our final project online, and spent all of our pair programming time obfuscating the miserable C code.

My classes were tedious. But my weekends were liberating, and empowering. Computer science gave me the tools to bring my ideas to life in a way that I had never experienced before.

![pic](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/sn96sgQz8W3v8_Rm3X6SG-EzMVMCVw0YfnaoYwqiX0ne4R5T_4xjYIuP1UeZlU0PFCnOzsE_zKCG4Il-yB_EHe7GxvCfBvp1t4AvfPyYAQUyrYjgFeCMdGhWGFexJ0p8fZAQWYGh)
On weekends, I would work from sunrise to sunset. I went for entire 48 hour periods without interaction with another soul, except for cats and baristas. My side projects were useless, and sometimes borderline insane. But I was achieving a level of flow state that was without comparison.

I barely graduated, and as I entered the corporate workforce, my life followed a similar pattern. Unable to achieve the level of obedience required of an entry level Java developer, I floundered at job after job.

Weekdays were boring. But every weekend was a glorious exploration of creative ideas. Alone, I toiled away on projects that gradually rose in quality and sanity. Eventually I started a business and was able to use my creativity to fulfill my economic requirements.

![sfd](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/tcvvmHNInB9w4OM75pOd7Ieec_y8sOPCc7ohA1k8j8AwG43DwM3pzaM1_yTb7VQFKkKh89Bc56bPUAvO9Q2tc6r1FhFo8cYCO3ArM0MgeF5DN4nxHPV_xesQbfLphCguRvG0MFHk)
But that only worsened the loneliness. My digital business required very little interaction with the outside world, and now I could go entire weeks without social interaction. As loneliness became an acute problem, I looked for online communities where I would fit in, and could not find one.

That is why I started [FindCollabs](http://www.findcollabs.com).

The problem with side projects is that we do them alone. We barricade ourselves in our own mental palaces. We embrace a creative, solipsistic indulgence: writing code that nobody will ever use, music that nobody will ever hear, and stories that nobody will ever read.

![fc](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/z6Oyru_Y6U-CtUXhwu3b-hZditldO4IAUPIZVFb8Ztm48dFdjTUMPBf-NOhGP4XBgwmPIvU0UxiCDsgqEARY92Q8rJCYYZITQ4SRBTLi056IQqDa7-Oc9fwlCNKeo2cHsDL315AV)
It is time for us to work together on our side projects, rather than in a self-gratifying cocoon. It is time for us to work in harmony rather than parity.

[It is time for us to find collabs.](http://www.findcollabs.com)

![fc](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/uBnBZ5Hz06mXKTzr98nh43FV2_1RDnRrwvx5G_epxtAefU1qAs1rkpeBUKa3Nu2h8yUvrqIN-xCP19CR-R7nRn0p4qWN6quniC-NMI-v_DStYxL3YieclYjLX7hGomOTWS4JLiGs)