June 2012
4 posts
7 tags
The Quitting Zone
Face it. If your working on a large side project that you hope to be profitable, you’re going to run into moments when you can’t stand the stench of anything related to your project. You’ve run into a whale of a problem and there’s no tiptoe’ing around it.
If you’re a human being like me, this usually leads to a lot of abandoned, half-baked projects. They...
6 tags
Work Around What You Suck At
My game-in-progress requires a clever character design: A few characters are the main part of the game and I’d rather they didn’t look like the work of a toddler. I can handle some design, but I had never tried building characters. Yesterday I gave it a shot.
No single iteration of the details was anything I was looking for. I grew stressed and ready to quit. How can I build a...
5 tags
Create Side Products, not Side Projects
When I hear “Project” from someone, that means to me that you’re building something that will help you fill out your resume and skillset. Usually projects aren’t meant to be monetized, and often times my assumptions are correct.
I’m not a fan of working on side projects for the sole reason of increasing your intrinsic value for potential employers or clients. Hear...
7 tags
Start at the Core
Last week I wrote a piece about what I thought would be an excellent plan to keep my motivation high for working on personal projects.
I messed up a bit.
Staying orthogonal, gettings others involved, and especially not overworking myself remain to be solid words of advice from my past self. What I want to reevaluate is breaking my project up into many mini projects.
I wouldn’t say...
May 2012
3 posts
8 tags
Staying Engaged in a Large Project
I’ve found giving up on my projects to be really easy, or at least hard to not do. I’m about to start another ‘big’ one and I have some thoughts about how I can maintain focus that you may find useful.
Not staying orthogonal has really made any big project a nightmare. Once your codebase is massive, small changes can have big, annoying consequences if you do not keep...
6 tags
How Ambition may be hurting you
Ambition changed my life over a year ago. I wanted to do great things — things that would change my life and those dear to me. No longer would playing video games every night satisfy me.
Ambition, even in a year’s time, has led to many great things. The amount I have learned in this short period of time puts any other equal interval of my life to shame — I’ve become a...
6 tags
April 2012
1 post
4 tags
Why I don't care for College as a Programmer
A minor disclaimer: I do not attend a bigshot university. I speak from my own experience at colleges that are ‘just okay’ schools. However, I’m inclined to believe that what I believe holds true to 99%, if not all colleges.
Most people hate college because of the work. Not enough partying and chillin with homies, yo. ”College would be great without the actual...
