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Ask HN: Advice for a directionless developer

9 points by danjaouen ↗ HN
Recently I've found myself plowing through development book after development book without any clear vision or direction. As a freelance developer, I've worked on many small-scale projects, but I find that when I'm lacking the structure resulting from having a client or boss, my pursuits tend to be scattered and ultimately unproductive.

Has anyone felt like this before? How did you manage to hunker down with a single project or toolset without direction coming from above?

4 comments

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karterk
When you don't have a client, you should find a customer. It boils down to what your motivation is though. Not everybody wants to invest their time on a side project.. but if that's okay for you:

1. Pick a problem that you're passionate about and try to solve it in a better way. 2. Give it to a few people, ask them to tell you how to make it better. 3. Go back to step 1

Development isn't an end in itself. There are only so many books you can read - the real learning comes when you refer to a book/resource while you're trying product something tangible.

js7
Finding a good problem to work on is the hard part
CyberFonic
You could be suffering from burn-out. I have been there quite a few times. Not a pleasant time.

Assuming that you don't have a gig and don't really need one...

So why not take some time out? Do anything that doesn't require sitting in front of some electronic gadget. Personally, I take long walks, bike rides, etc. The more physical the better.

Then follow up Karterk's suggestion either find a project you are passionate about and really want to solve or find a customer.

playing_colours
I was in a similar situation. I read book after book, doing some small stuff. Now I switched from this book-first approach to problem-first. If you don't know what to choose, read articles, talk to people, books are too time-consuming, focused to start with. When you find an interesting problem (for me it's now reactive driver for Github in Scala, just started on it), you start coding, find appropriate books, other people solutions etc. I've found I learn way more and feel more engaged when I keep focusing on solving a problem.