Personal Projects
Golf Trac is something I can’t wait to use. Originally, using it was all my motivation. Now, I’m remembering how fun it is to work on personal stuff, and that boosts my motivation to finish it even more—it’s a win-win. I have to say, though, I wouldn’t enjoy it nearly as much without Ruby/Rails. I’m still figuring out more and more, which is awesome. It’s that amazed, “Ah ha!” moment that constantly adds to the experience (for me, anyway).
Personal projects in general are fun to work on (especially when it’s not rpheath.com again). Nobody can tell me what to do or when to do it. If I want to spend a week on nothing but adjusting pixels, I can. There’s no worrying about this decision or that decision, I only have to please myself. And, believe it or not, sometimes I’m not in the mood to program. It’s nice to be able to set it aside for when I am in the mood.
I think Google employees get 20% of their work-week to work on personal projects. That’s what I need… one day per week to work on my own stuff, and get paid for it. Of course, a full week would be much better (lucky bums)1.
1 Yes, I realize it took hard work to get there. And they’re not really bums.