I think there is no long term solution to this if you already have a family (with children to care about): Day job, side project, family: it is too much, at least one of them will suffer. I don't see this as something that can be balanced, I see it as a temporary state. For me the long-term goal is to eliminate the day job by making enough money from the side-product.
If only one suffered, that would be optimal. In my experience what ended up happening is all suffered. In noticing that one part of my life was starting to falter I would soon over compensate. What would happen is a juggling act, that ends with total burnout. In the mean time you disappoint a lot of people.
Side-projects are good, but you have to be careful about it.
I don't think that is true. It is all about what is a priority. I have 3 kids plus another on the way, a day job, and multiple side projects/products (one being Hacker Newsletter). My family is my priority, so it is very rare for me to work on the side projects while the kids are awake. You just have to cut things that aren't as meaningful to you. For me that was TV/Facebook/etc. I also think it is good to mix-up what you work on. Some weeks I'll spend a minimal amount of time on my side-projects and instead do some wood working projects or what have you.
That's so true. I don't have a family yet, so I've been working to get my projects higher off the ground. I want to eliminate the day job while it's still fairlu easy to do so.
I know how you feel but I don't think it needs to be that way. I have a family and that does (rightly) take a lot of time. However, it can be done. Its a matter of organisation.
In the past 10 years I was able to support my side-projects (see profile) and family life (we have 2 years old) by not having a day job, but instead carefully choosing freelance projects. Here's how it works:
Freelancing allows me the flexibility to dedicate pockets of time to side-projects that require a push. I simply don't book myself of 3-4 weeks if I know I need the time for a side project. This allows these side-projects to organically flourish rather than wither in the long term. If and when any of these projects become a source of income, I can easily turn my attention to it without having to change my lifestyle.
Regardless of their monetary success (some of my projects are not meant to be products at all), I've noticed that they act as magnets towards the kind of freelancing jobs I'd like to take. This creates a positive feedback loop, as the freelancing gigs often help me push forward at least one of the side projects (code wise or knowledge of the domain).
Overal, the trick is to keep your projects (paid or not) within your core curiosity-zone. If you're just starting out, the mission is to get closer to this zone with every new freelance gig. The end result is that enjoy both the side projets and my freelancing gigs. The line between them blurs more and more every-day.
What are good side projects? I get this "cool stuff that I don't get to do at work" idea, but I think it's vitally important to have side projects that have a different gratification profile than one's main work. If you work as a developer of any kind, most work will be on massive projects spanning at least months, often years. For a side project to be fun, I think its important to have a different pace. For example trying out a new technology and doing some cool hack quickly, in a few hours, rather than "doing it right" slowly and meticulously. Maybe side projects should be mainly about learning or trying out things rather than doing things, exploration not exploitation of existing skills.
A good side project is anything you think it is. The most important aspect is that it must keep you engaged, whereas a project at work has to be profitable as its primary aspect.
The "gratification profile" should be what works best for you and your personality and what you need to accomplish. If your side project is building a boat to cross Lake Superior, then it's fine if it takes years to complete. If it's automating your garage door to open when your car arrives, it might be done in a weekend.
The point of the project is that it should be about you. What you want to do, on your terms, at your pace. Otherwise, you might as well just get a second job.
For me its automating turn-based role-playing game mechanics using .NET technologies. Turned out to be a much longer term project than anything I've worked on "for hire".
I recently struggled with balancing these three. When my ex-girlfriend started a mandatory "no computer Sundays", I knew something had to change. Here's what has been working for me: get up early. I wake up at 5am, have a few hours to work on side projects or freelance work, and then I head into work at 8am. After work, I don't touch a computer until the next morning. It's been just over a month and I'm loving the results.
I did the exact same while working full time and am trying to do the same as a freelancer now.
What I've found is that no matter how early I wake up I have about eight hours in me and then I lose the ability to focus. I have a feeling exercise and a better diet might help.
Don't get me wrong though, having an ultra productive 4 hours before 10am is awesome, and clocking off at 14:00 to read, play with my arduino or do other things is pretty good too. For me at least though it hasn't magically added any extra hard-focus time to the day.
Diet has made a huge difference in maintaining my energy levels throughout the day. In the morning I make a vegetable + fruit smoothie, lunch I usually eat plain chili or some form of meat and vegetables. I try to reserve carbs for before/after exercise.
On days when I splurge and eat pizza or some heavy carbs for lunch, I usually crash pretty hard around 2pm. That's why I save lunch beers for Fridays only! :)
That sound really interesting. Maybe I should try that to as currently I'm spending too many nights in front of the computer... Would be interesting to hear how that turns out for you. Good luck for now!
My solution has been to make my "side projects" my entire work. People often ask me.. "so, uh, you actually do this as your job?" because most of my projects look like frivolous side projects that I love and enjoy almost like hobbies, even the ones that bring in the money. (The annoying hidden part to this tale is it took having a significant "runway" in the bank to be brave enough to try this idea out..)
I've turned down some interesting jobs lately because I thought they wouldn't pay well or they wouldn't offer enough autonomy.. but this post has made me realize it's just because I don't want "a job," there'd be no time left over for "side projects"! :-)
For the last two years, I have been trying, on and off, to develop a few ideas into maturity. You can call these my side projects. I started out, thinking that taking 5-6 hours out from my weekends and a couple of hours per weekday, would do the job.
My day job is quite demanding in terms of hours and energy that I put in.
After around one year of trying hard to perform well in my day job, keep on developing my side projects and have a decent social life, I gave up. It was not working out. Time and again, I found myself, totally tired mentally and physically.
I couldn't understand what was it that I was doing wrong. Then time and again, I would hear stories of people who were successfully juggling day-job, side-projects and family life. I just did not get it and still don't.
Is there some kind of strategy that you have to follow? Is my time-management not good enough? Is something missing in my attitude? Or is it just plain luck, that things work out sometimes and other times they don't.
My advice is keep the side project small and only work on one at a time. We often spread ourselves too thin and try and undertake something too big. If we cannot see fast results we become demoralised.
Is there some kind of strategy that you have to follow?
Prioritization. Unless you have infinite amounts of energy, something has to be given less importance. Often that means shifting priorities among the different things you are doing.
Take it from someone who has been doing this for some years now. I have 3 side projects. A job a girfriend and a son.
It is entirely possible but entirely depending on your spouse and on how much you are prepared to sacrifice.
I even took it up a notch and moved to the other side of the Atlantic.
Relying on Skype, Pair and monthly visits. Suffice to say it's not easy and not without it's challenges. But if you have a great spouse and are very clear on what the goal of you doing what you are doing is. Then it's possible.
The article is about developing a stable balance between family, work and side projects- how does monthly visits to your son create as a good balance? It sounds more like a temporarily tolerated situation rather than something feasible (or desireable) long term.
Because I have lived here over the years (before I met my gf and got my son) and have large parts of my friends here.
Because my gf have a job she really loves and didn't want to move with me right away (but maybe later)
Because sometimes you have to think strategic about your families future. (of course with the danger of destroying the very family you are trying to create)
The way I see it, there's a time and space for both. "side products" require much more upfront time investment than "side projects" (market research, competition evaluation etc). It depends what one is looking for at the moment: is it a potential business? (->side product) or exposure to a new technology to help you grow as a developer? (->side project).
I agree. I am not a great fan of side products because that is a whole other goal. That is all about making money rather than learning more. Its just not me.
If you structure it well, you can have your cake and eat it. I enjoy many frivolous "side projects" that are merely for research or to learn a technology, but where possible I try and plan for that "play" to then serve as the basis or inspiration for a product or service I can offer as well (at the worst, a fun side project could turn into an interesting piece of content marketing, a prime piece of your résumé, or even something like a class or an e-book).
My thinking about my future prospects as a potential employee (finishing school soon and thinking about the future) has led me to think about the things suggested in this article very seriously: I enjoy my hobbies involving the outdoors. I love hiking, climbing, cycling, and any other form of enjoying the outdoors. If I'm now trying to get a job at a technical company doing technical work, many founders and recruiters expect (sometimes even assume) that I will have some side projects I'm working on.
But I don't want to work on a side project for the heck of it. I want to stay healthy and enjoy my times outside. There is a brand of people out there that aren't just obsessed with the technical, and recruiters and companies who want all kinds of talent are going to have to be open to different lifestyles - including healthy ones.
It's pretty safe to assume that employees with side projects even remotely related to work are a small minority. In all the years I've been in industry, I can count on one hand, the number of people I have known, or interviewed, that had technical side projects.
Most people just go home and kick back in front of the TV, or garden, or fish, or run or something. Rarely is that "something" a software project.
Absolutely! As I say at one point in the post, if I had to choose I would choose life over side projects any day of the week. Although I prefer to hire those who do side projects I have also hired people precisely because of what they did outside of the web.
"I don’t believe the answer is work hard, play hard"
Playing hard means squeezing as much high adrenaline, pleasurable activities in a short amount of time, and rushing through vacation spots. Just as stressful as 60 hour work weeks.
Great results be it in your family, work, or side projects require great sacrifices. You cannot have all be extremely successful while you are building all of them simultaneously from scratch.
