[codingdave]

Hard disagree that doing a side project for money is not worth it. Almost all bootstrapped companies started this way. It should be self-evident by now that VC-driven "startup" is just one potential path to build a product, not the only way to start your own thing. The best gigs I've had in my career started as someone's side project that took off enough to become a company.

Even if your goal isn't to grow into a company, it is not always a difficult slog. My best side project accidentally made money. I wrote it for my kids, put it online, and forgot about it. As it was all client-side functionality, it was just a free static HTML page from my perspective. But 2 years later, I find out people had found it and were using it constantly, so I added some paid features, ran it for a couple years, and sold it.

[purple-leafy]

I hard disagree, solely for the money is NOT worth it.

You’re much better off focusing down on your career and maximising your paycheque.

Doing it solely for money you will just burnout. A 40 hour week + life commitments + a side project to make money is not sustainable for anyone.

Doing a fun side project that somehow makes money is fine, but think of the overwhelming amount of failed side projects out there. Statistically it’s very unlikely your side project will make much money.

[codingdave]

Yeah, you said that already. We already knew you disagreed, which is why I posted a dissenting opinion in the first place. That way, OP hears different perspectives and can make their own call.

Personally, I've seen way too much anti-employee politics and policy in the corporate world to trust that maximizing checks is right for everyone. I say that as someone who did that for much of my career, too. If you have ambition to do more, you should. If you are happy to just collect checks, you should do that. But people should decide for themselves because what burns one person out would make a different person thrive.

[purple-leafy]

I more just mean solely for the money doesn’t quite work so well. I see your viewpoint regarding anti-employee politics and policy and agree the world is becoming quite anti-worker so can see where you’re coming from.

I’ve found the best approach is to reduce work hours per week/fortnight by 1 day, and spend that day on side projects and learning.

If you approach side projects with the intent to learn and share your creations, I think the money can follow.

That way you can still juice up your career, but potentially open up a diversified second income stream. If the finances look good, you can even reduce work hours and increase side project time