Just create stupid stuff!

Felipe Afonso - July 4, 2024

In my last six years working in the industry, I’ve already had my share of coworkers complaining about being unable to maintain side projects and keep a relevant Git Hub profile. These complaints are often followed by the excuse of already having to work during the week and, therefore, not wanting to “keep working” during the weekend. And to be honest, I’m tired of hearing it. But first, let’s make some things clear.

I’m not saying that people need to code as a hobby to be relevant professionals or that you are a mediocre programmer if you don’t. The point isn’t even that I’m tired of people complaining about feeling the need to maintain side projects or that the industry favors people who value people who publicly show their work.

So what’s the point?

My point is that people feel like they have to share their best work in their personal repositories. I am no Adam Abramov or TJ DeVries. I also wouldn’t appreciate to “work” during the weekend. So, how do I get some projects on my Git Hub? Well, that’s simple: I stopped caring about the quality of my projects! While I still have the ambition of creating something super cool that could create another source of income someday, I figured out a while ago that I don’t have to, at least not right now.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a very passionate developer, and I like fiddling with code during the weekend. But there are other things I want to do at the weekends. Every now and then, I get excited about some new game or a new season in Path of Exile, and if that’s the case, I’m not spending a single minute with my neovim open during the weekend. And, of course, if I’m not feeling like it, I won’t force myself either.

Up until recently, my Git Hub looked like most of the employed devs I see around, basically a graveyard of high-ambition projects that were stopped eons ago, shortly after the initial commit. This got me thinking; I’m always learning about new tech, usually creating stupid projects to learn the language/framework/engine. These were usually left forgotten in a folder alone until I wiped my drive for a new Linux distro. And then it suddenly clicked for me during my last foray into the Gleam language:

There is a middle ground! I can use these explorations into new stuff to create borderline helpful stuff that I won’t feel ashamed of pushing to my Git Hub!!

What does this mean?

Hear me out before you start complaining about a middle ground still being too much work. I still remember (not so fondly) my first delve into Flutter (when it was a new thing in 2018). It was my first year of my master’s degree, and I spent a day or two just setting up the environment to create a single Hello World application. At that point, of course, that was the last time I touched that project. It was utterly useless, and I wouldn’t want to publish it.

As the years passed, I like to think that I got better at starting new projects, even if they involved using tech I had never used before. My starter projects evolved from simple Hello Worlds to task lists, CRUD applications, and eventually helpful stuff (at least for me). This is why it dawned on me during my last learning session: I’m no longer making hot garbage while trying stuff out. I can actually create some barely useful stuff with tech I’m still learning.

Do what is meaningful to you.

You don’t always have to create useful stuff. I set this bar for myself so I won’t feel ashamed of having it on my Git Hub. Go ahead and build stuff. Coding is fun; don’t let anyone take that away from you. Even if that means you’ll be recreating Spotify’s UI again, stop thinking that all your public code has to be meaningful to someone else!