Aren't Developer Side Projects Just... Work?

Transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.

Hey folks, I'm just headed to CrossFit. We're going to go to LinkedIn for the topic today. And this is actually from a a discussion that I was responding to. And uh we're not going to try my best not to frame it as I'm angry at this person uh because that's not really helpful. But I I think uh kind of interesting because I I think I've seen this perspective come up with respect to side projects and stuff. But this is actually written down. So it made me made me think maybe it's worth talking about because people still kind of have this opinion. So um the original post that went up was around someone uh trying to give some you know some data points around hiring rates and things like that and essentially that there's a lot of you know new developers up and coming obviously and kind of illustrating that like a lot of people are going through school or boot camp or whatever.

ever it is and and and really being like, okay, well, therefore, I'm all set to work and I should be employable right away. And like that's ideal, but it's also like I think a lot of people are realizing it's not realistic, unfortunately. And the rest of their post goes on to talk about that basically like tutorial hell if you've heard of this concept and kind of saying that a lot of people start falling into this trap of like okay well if I got to skill up like I'm just going to I'm just going to watch tutorials to go learn all these concepts so therefore I'll be I will be ready. they're kind of saying like, hey, like this is this doesn't really work if you're doing that.

So, originally I commented just to say like, hey, a lot of us are a lot of us are, you know, trying to be very vocal about this and saying that um you know, the the best way to to get better at this stuff is to is to practice doing it, right? like you need to be hands-on building things or else uh you know or else you're not going to build up the skill. And this is like it's not specific to software engineering. It's literally take any skill you want to get better at playing the uh the baritone saxophone. That's the instrument I used to play when I was really young in elementary school. We had music class. It was the saxophone was bigger than I am. You want to play the baritone saxophone. You want to get better at it. How do you get better at playing the baritone saxophone?

You play the baritone saxophone, right? You want to get better at, you know, playing basketball. I don't know anything about sports. Uh, you want to get better playing basketball, like you don't just go read blog posts about basketball or watch YouTube videos about basketball. You need to play basketball. you want to get better at swimming, right? Like you get the idea. You can't just you can't just read about it. That might help you like hear concepts and familiarize yourself with terms, but like you you won't be better unless you're practicing it. It's just not how it works. And it's the same with software. Yes, you can watch tutorials. You can, you know, uh read articles and stuff. I produce this kind of material. I'm telling you this as someone who produces this kind of material that like it's uh it's to to help with the class of issue, but it will not solve the learning part.

It just will not do that. You need to be spending time building. The reason I make tutorials and I, you know, like and have technical articles and stuff like that is to to help you with sticking points or to show you examples of how I've navigated things. It's not to say like, hey, just, you know, everyone go to my main YouTube channel and like binge watch all the tutorials and then you'll have the equivalent of the, you know, the 20 plus years I have as a programmer. Like that's not that's not how it works. you need to spend time building stuff. So, uh this you know I responded with this comment um not against the the original poster they were kind of uh you know trying to share this perspective with people like you need to you need to build things. So I was like, yeah, like you know, basically agreed.

And a lot of us are trying to be more vocal, but like how do we how do we get more vocal about literally telling people as much as we can like you need to be building stuff? And the the thing that I thought was interesting was uh someone responded to my comment and this is really what I I wanted to talk about and they said, "But we don't have time for that." and they said, you know, isn't aren't, you know, uh aren't side projects uh and building things like isn't that just work? Like why why would I work for free? And I don't know. I feel I feel like there's a a lot there's a lot wrong with this this comment in my in my opinion in terms of the framing. Uh, but I had to step back because I I I looked at who was posting this and I kind of went back to the original post to to kind of do a little bit of a comparison here.

The original post truly in my opinion is about, you know, people that are new to the industry. I was trying to say that a lot of people that are doing this Oh man, these guys, sorry, this person thinks they're going to try and get ahead instead. They're just making it a bit more of a pain in the ass. Um, the original post is about people new to the industry. They they literally highlighted the very first sentences about you know 25 uh 20 25 20 26 cohort of like software engineers uh you know trying basically trying to get into the industry. So I'm like okay this is targeted for people that are that are brand new to the industry and this person who responded my comment in their like their LinkedIn title says senior software engineer.

So, the first thing that I'm kind of doing here is I'm going I actually number one I I actually don't I don't know what this person is is truly trying to get at cuz it's kind of a like are side projects work? I don't know. Like is anything that requires effort work or do you mean a job? Because side projects aren't a job unless you're getting paid for them and they're saying they're not. So, I don't understand what they're saying. But I also think that they're the wrong audience and they're not they're they're kind of missing that, right? If you basically if you're a senior software engineer, do you do you need side projects? And I would say, well, that that depends. That's a typical software engineering response, right? It it depends. Do you have lots of work experience that you can put on your resume that aligns to the type of work that you want to do in your next role?

If you're checking all the boxes and you're having good responses when it comes to sending your resume out, then no, you don't need side projects, you don't need to go do that. If you enjoy doing it, then sure. If you, you know, are learning new things, then that's great. But if you're like, I don't have, you know, extra time for it. I'm learning lots on the job. I have lots of good experience for my resume. Do you need side projects as a senior software engineer? No. Do I think that it's helpful for anyone and everyone? Sure. Like, yeah, why not? But you don't need it. So, I I don't I don't think that they're the right audience. So, they did say like uh you know, the key word that they had and I I kind of I just said it now, but it they actually said, you know, why would I do that in my free time?

And I'm again I I I don't think they're the right target audience for this post. But if we kind of look at what the post says, it's around new, you know, people new to the industry that are not they're basically they're doing this practice work or they're, you know, in tutorial hell because they're not employed. So then I I have the question uh this is why you know this comment is very confusing to me. The the people that this post is for in my opinion probably have lots of free time because they're not working. Air quotes are on free time. Like should you be doing this stuff? Like absolutely yes you should. You absolutely should be spending time, you know, building things because you are not currently employed. You do need to be able to build up skills. And so your options are basically have nothing additional to put on your resume and you wait and you keep applying, which that's a strategy.

Do I think that it's going to be very successful? Probably not. And why? Well, because the other people around you that are going, I have time to go build side projects and add more to my resume. They will ultimately have resumes that stand out more. They will ultimately have skill sets that are greater because they're actively building things. So, I guess maybe the answer is no. You don't have to do anything. I just wouldn't recommend it. Right? Like that's why I said I don't think that this person is is the target audience for this post because the statements don't really line up. If you were truly working and getting compensated for it and not looking for another job and you were learning on the job and you didn't have a need outside of that, like no, that you don't you don't need side projects, right?

Like especially if you're like, I'm done my workday and I've had enough software development, you know, I don't want to be thinking about that, then yeah, don't don't go build stuff on the side. That's totally fine. That's not what we're talking about here, though. This is, you know, this post, in my opinion, and kind of the message I want people to hear is if if you're new to the software engineering industry and you've just finished up school or you just finished up your boot camp, like I'm I'm very sorry, but the the learning and the practice has just started. This is a field where the entire time in your career you will be learning new things the entire time and in my opinion that means practice all the time. If you are getting that practice on the job and you feel that you're learning and you feel that you're challenged in a positive way that's great, right?

But if you're not yet employed, like I I just don't understand why someone would go, "Well, I'm not employed. I am trying to apply for jobs. I'm not having, you know, if you're not having success with that because you've been still applying for jobs." I don't know why you would not try to invest more time and effort unless you're like, "That's too much time and effort. It's not for me." But then that's a you know personal decision on that. Like I I have said this in other videos, right? Uh and I realize that not everyone, you know, has the same career journey by any means, but like I had been programming for 9 years. been programming for nine years before I was full uh like employed full-time. Do I think that you need to be programming for 9 years before you get your first job? Absolutely not.

But I don't know where the expectations changed along the way that you don't need to be building things or whatever. to be honest. Sorry, there's a lot of brake lights and a lot of people driving kind of stupid. There we go. Um, so like yeah, it unfortunately takes lots of time and effort and I mean I'm I'm assuming there there have been periods of time where people, you know, the the hiring frenzies were on and people were kind of getting in into their roles without, you know, much additional time or effort. Those lights are so bright. Holy cow. Um, but yeah, I don't know. Expectations have shifted over time dramatically. So, yeah, if you're if you're new to the industry, right? Um, I I realize that a lot of people are discouraged right now. There's there's AI, there's difficult job markets.

I've uh you know had lots of people even comment on these videos going like yeah like I'm in school but I'm just going to I'm just going to drop out because like there's no future in software development and like I just not it's not for me to decide. It's for you know whoever is on their own journey doing doing their thing. But um yeah, the job market's really hard right now. But there's a lot of factors that are going on and and I kind of one one of the many factors like AI is one of them. We have the uh the post pandemic kind of hiring frenzy. Um there's uh US economy like there's so many things so many things going on one of those things too just one of them so please don't like hyperindex on this it's this is relevant to the topic

one of those things is that there are more software developers coming through with different expectations of what reality is some of that maybe a lot of that is this uh you know this overpromise and under deliver underd delivery from many boot camps that are truly like predatory in their marketing. I'm not saying that every boot camp is bad. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm not saying boot camps are useless. I'm saying there are many boot camps that use predatory marketing and false promises. Hey, you know, sign up for our three-week program or our three-month program and like you're going to get a $100,000 a year job. Like, unless that boot camp is the one hiring you for $100,000 a year, they're full of Sorry. Does that mean that it's impossible to do? Nope. Everything's possible. It's just that that's such a terrible false promise. It's predatory.

It's the wrong expectation. I don't care who you are. That amount of time is like objectively not enough practice for the average human being to be able to skill up in software development to be able to do that kind of work. It just isn't. So, I'm not, you know, talking about this to to blame the new software developers. Absolutely not. I understand it's challenging. I think that unfortunately things like boot camp marketing and stuff like that have really skewed people's perspectives on this But at the end of the day, just come kind of coming back to the original topic here, like at the end of the day, like sitting back and watching tutorials to try and like absorb information is not going to deliver the results that you're probably hoping for for for becoming a better software developer. And I think there's two parts, right? Like there's the the content that you can add to your resume, which by the way, if you're just starting out, your resume is probably pretty light.

So any any types of side projects that you can say like here, I was learning this kind of stuff, focusing my time and energy to go learn this or learn that, like I think all that stuff's super helpful. You don't have other experience. So create the experience. That's one part. And the other part is truly the practice. If you're not building things, you're not practicing. So please spend time doing that. Is it as this person said, why would I why would I do work for free? I don't know. Because you don't have a job yet. Like that I I I don't understand the the argument. That's why I said I don't think they're the right audience. Right. keep investing time and effort and like you will absolutely get better at this stuff. I've seen lots of people too who've been kind of trying to break in.

They're busting their ass doing all this work and they reach a point they're like, "Wait a second." Like I've been I started even taking on clients to go build stuff. Like I I can start employing myself and it's super cool. Like that's such an awesome thing. So, I don't know. Like, just please spend time building Um, I don't know. Is it work? Yes. Anything that requires effort is work. I think I think by definition if you're like what's the what's the physics definition of work? Uh, but yeah. Is it a job? I don't know. It's not a job probably unless you're getting paid for it. So anyway, there's my my mini rant, but um yeah, I I definitely truly I wish everyone who's trying to get into the the industry success, and I think that one of the best ways to do that is is to build So if you have questions, leave them below in the comments.

Um you can send them in on code.com. You can message me on social media. But uh yeah, I'm happy to spend time trying to answer your questions to help you get into the software engineering industry. Um that's that's my goal. Take care.