Building for learning vs. building for skills
Hi all,
There is something that has been bugging me for quite a while and I wanted to make a post about it so here goes.
As a (CS) student I am very much interested in indiehacking and building useful products for consumers. I consider myself to have good amount of energy to execute tasks and work on personal projects. However, my (programming) skills are not very sharp at this point since I am still learning and don't have relevant work experience yet.
Whenever I think of creating something I wonder whether the goal should be learning a new technology/improving my existing skills which will help me make better products in the future OR building something for profit.
If I focus on building for profit I feel like I am not learning as much as I could.
If I build for learning purposes, it is sometimes hard to be motivated because there is no profit involved.
What to do?
Strike a balance between the two?
Make something super simple with learning goals in mind and low expectations on the profit side?
Is it too early for me to be indiehacking?
It's never to early to start indiehacking. However at this stage in your career you typically will spend a lot more mental capacity into your learning than you will when you're a few years into your career. That's where you're finding this hard to balance, because typically people don't jump out of the gate trying to do both.
One thing you'll (hopefully) keep seeing in your studies is the concept of iterative development. I think it'll be useful to you this early on because to be frank you're not going to write great code your first time doing this project, and it'll soon come back to bite you if you're making a business of it. So you need to have an eye for improving things before they become a problem.
Lastly, on "having enough energy to execute tasks and work on personal projects":
It's okay to focus on one thing at a time when it comes to career/study. But this extra energy might not always be as much as you think, or can be much better spent on improving your quality of life in other ways ways. Taking up physical & social hobbies for example to expand your social & professional circles as well as improve in a skill or become healthier. I did all sorts of things when I was studying, and very few of them were related to my career but I'd still consider them fundamental to who I've become today. You'll bring far more value to yourself & others, and have more fun in life, if you have a range of experiences & knowledge instead of just being yet another CS grad who hasn't looked beyond the books or the industry.
Thank you for the thoughtful reply. Yes I have recently taken up jogging in the early mornings and it's been such a boost to my overall health. I could also work on improving my social & professional circles. I'll keep your reply at the back of my head for whenever I feel like I'm not doing enough.