The graveyard of side projects
I have this personality trait where I need to feel busy to feel alive. For years, I thought it was a symptom of being an incurable workaholic. But lately I’ve started to accept that it’s just a part of who I am—I take genuine pleasure in building things.
And I love my job. For those following along, you might have picked up that I work in media, straddling the line between journalism and programming. This means two things: my work hours are endless because the news never stops, and I have an insatiable passion for coming up with side projects.
These projects come in all shapes and sizes. I’ve dreamt of creating a VR training game enhanced with AI for rehabilitation, a text editor that uses AI to add comments like an editor in the newsroom, and a news recommendation system that balances editorial judgment with user interests. I’ve even thought about fine-tuning a Llama model out of sheer curiosity and designing a watering system that uses sensor data to optimally water my plants.
These are just a few examples. If I were to dig through my notes and GitHub profile, I’d find countless more projects I started with enthusiasm but never finished. Often, a major work project would take over, and I’d pour my heart and soul into it because I genuinely believe in creating something impactful for my readers. Journalists often say their real boss is the reader, and I wholeheartedly agree.
But looking at my graveyard of side projects, I can’t find a reasonable justification for not investing a little more time in them. Sure, many would flop, but I don’t even see them as moneymakers or fame-chasers. I know I would derive great pleasure from seeing them through.
Staring at my graveyard of side projects feels like looking at pictures of a theme park that closed years ago.
If only there were enough energy to resurrect them without turning me into a zombie…