Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by mlatu 1383 days ago
totally get it.

i havent released much. and the quality is questionable. but i totally get it.

me and my SO discussed this briefly, her suggestion is to only do things for yourself.

my thoughts to that: yeah, sure. but working a dayjob _and_ working the dream, who is going to cheer me on? im bad at multitasking, so after a day or two of spinning my wheels i will most likely loose all drive, because i can see that i wont make it in the near future to the finish line. Also, nobody except me cares, but do i really care? there are projects i do care about a lot, but because i care so much i havent really put any deliberate concrete planing into it as to keep anything possible. this way i pick up small projects left and right, turn them over a couple of times in my mind and then drop them. big ones i just dream about ad infinitum... i hate it but i havent found the jenesaiqua to motivate myself to do anything really. much less so if i only do it for myself.

being cheered on by family always feels like "oh wow, that is a nice cat you drew" "its a horse" "oh yeah now i see it...(they never did)": empty encouraging words. blind eyes appreciating art. deaf ears praising the timbre of an instrument. v_v

at least when i cook a meal i can eat it and experience whether or not it tastes good. but with software? what am i supposed to make that will make my life a bit better: an automatic doomscroller? scoffs

I wish you well, lurkars, may your projects gain the recognition they deserve

1 comments

> what am i supposed to make that will make my life a bit better: an automatic doomscroller? scoffs

One heuristic is to think of what problems you face in daily life, and imagining a way to deal with them with technology. Problems don't have to be big, and your solution doesn't have to be perfect, just helpful enough.

"omg Netflix's recommendations suck" -> Personal recommender system

"omg I want to watch this movie, but I have to search all of the streaming services individually to find out if it's even available" -> Scraper

"I have lots of tasks to do, but want them to interface with my calendar and follow a particular priority, and remind me according to some set of rules" -> To Do list

Build small things and write about them. Eventually some will find success and you can choose to keep building or not.