Ask HN: Ideas for being productive for a few months
I've been living in SF for a couple of years now. I was all set to change employers, only to get denied at the border when I tried to re-enter the US. My immigration lawyers are telling me it could take a few months to clear this up.
So, aside from all the stress and hassle trying to deal with having a whole life and apartment with all my stuff that I can't access now, does anyone have advice on how to spend a few months? My would-be employer isn't interested in having me work remotely in the meantime, and I'm not sure how difficult it is to find a temporary developer gig for a few months.
Some of my ideas:
* online courses. I'm very interested in getting more experience in ML/data science (I have a bachelors degree in math/CS) but I often start online courses and then lose motivation.
* start a side business. I'm not really an entrepreneur-type but it might be a good learning experience. Again I'm afraid that I might lose motivation; I'm not great at self-driving myself.
* contracting/consulting. But I don't have a lot of contacts or potential clients.
* travel. But I've already traveled a fair bit in the last couple of years.
For what it's worth, I'm Canadian. The bulk of my software experience is in developing real time, distributed systems. I feel like having a few months off could be a tremendous opportunity to grow myself and learn something new, but I also know from experience that I have difficulty with motivation and self-driving myself. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sounds to me like you should use these next three months tackling your "lose motivation" problem! If you are able to learn how to motivate yourself (and also do the hard work of being self-critical, smashing through mental barriers that are keeping you from what you want), it will pay more dividends than any of the other ideas you've already posted.