The Hidden Value of Personal Projects

Dec 29, 2024

As a developer I try to make small side projects with new technologies and tasks. Most of them will not make it to deployment, and even fewer will be used by anyone except me. Why is that?

When you spend a weekend or an afternoon setting a goal to write a project with the new cool tech you read about on Twitter (sorry, "X"), or work on a cool idea you have been thinking about, it is about the process of training yourself for new skills and learning how to turn an idea into a product. It seems like when we were in school and our tutor asked us to write an essay as homework. It seemed pointless. No one would read it after it was graded, but the act of writing: wrestling with the ideas, forcing them into a coherent structure — that's what honed our skills. We became faster, more fluent writers, capable of tackling more complex arguments.

The project's ultimate adoption is secondary. The true benefit comes from the learning process itself. Mastering new technologies strengthens your skillset, making you a more competitive candidate. Developing a project from concept to completion deepens your understanding of feature implementation, deployment, and codebase maintenance. This continuous learning keeps your "brain muscle" in top shape, preparing you for future technological challenges.

Keep learning, keep building, and keep having fun! 🎉🚀💻