Advice to my younger self and you after 20 years in programming
medium.comMedium recommended me this article. Reading it made me realize that I've wasted my youth on useless side projects that don't generate revenue and that realization filled me with dread, despair, and self-hatred - I hate myself for not spending my youth more wisely. But I wanted to know what you guys think. Do you agree with it?
Passion projects are what really matters. I think making everything about revenue is what's wrong with the whole world, and I think feeling the way you feel (you wasted your time) is a direct symptom of living under such a parasitic economic system. Our right to access the basic necessities of life is dependent on our willingness to turn a profit for some already-rich person. You didn't waste your youth, you used it well. It would have been a waste to spend such a wonderful time working yourself to death.
No, I don't agree. There's more to life than money. In money terms, you may have wasted your time. Did you learn anything? Did you have fun? Not a total waste, then.
Look, you can make a side project into an obsession that eats your life. Don't do that. But for more reasonable levels of "side project", they have a place even if they never make any money.
GIven the title this piece is very short on advice. More like "look at me and what I achieved". For every person like this there are 100 who did the same and failed. This isn't advice.