How much does you day job play into you IH skill set?
I imagine for most the answer is a lot, but for me it feels like very little.
I currently work in the embedded world. And I am looking to leave for two reasons.
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I was never really interested in embedded C/C++. But it was a job out of college.
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None of these skills feel easily transferable to side projects.
Most people on IH seem to work on some kind of web/mobile app. This is what I myself am doing now. But the skills I have picked up on the job have done nothing for me outside of generally improving my programming skills.
All knowledge I have picked up about building website/web apps has been done on my own time. And this seems inefficient.
I guess an example of what I’m getting at would be the rails dev who is building a rails app on the side. Where as I am a C/C++ dev building a node/react app on the side.
Just looking for opinions. Thanks for reading.
I would say only sets of skills I’m using that have come from my job would be what I’ve learned about publishing and how to work with databases. Other than that, everything else has been self-motivated learning and tinkering.
It might feel inefficient, but don’t make it stop you from doing what you need to do.
Yeah I think I’m overestimating this. I’m sure there’s a golden space where someone has worked with tools on the job and turned those direct skills into a business. It’s probably not the common case though.
Indie or side projects are meant to be rapid and easy. That's how you see everyone here using Rails or Node or React or Wordpress or no-code builders.
In the wider full-time career world, those technologies are still valuable (I've worked in React and Wordpress shops) but they do have a lower barrier to entry.
It's selection bias at work. Don't let it mess with your head.
That said, I appreciate the desire to align your work so that your day job helps your side skills grow. But on the flip side, maybe there's rare talent that only you can provide by virtue of coming from a specific discipline?
I found myself in a similar situation a couple years ago. I left everything behind and pursued my interests for 6 months, learning a completely new stack and building my own projects.
A couple months in when my saving started running out, it seemed like I've made a horrible mistake, but now I can say that it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.
What was you plan going into that six month period if you don’t mind my asking? What were you hoping to get out of it, did you have any objectives or goals? How did you make the most of your limited time?
The plan was to release a product and generate enough revenue to be ramen profitable. Half of that plan worked out, but I had to go back to consulting part time after six months. It set me on a new course though, and my day job is very well aligned with my project work now.