There’s a long list of projects that I’d like to work on.
Most of them (okay, pretty much all of them) include building some sort of website.
In the past, my approach to these kinds of projects would usually involve sitting down and trying to create a WordPress theme from scratch.
Why would I start there, you ask? Because I’m able to, and because it seems like the responsible step to take. (Something about “eating your own dog food”, I suppose.)
But building a theme from scratch is hard. It’s a project in and of itself. It takes lots of time; time that could be spent on other things.
Not to mention, a theme alone is not enough to make a successful website.
Considering and reconsidering…
A couple weeks ago, I proclaimed that front-end development was the direction I wanted to go in. My thought process was pretty straightforward: Front-end development satisfies my interest in doing something technical, it lets me build stuff online, and it can be an outlet for creative expression.
Today, I’m reconsidering that proclamation.
Yes, I like front-end development, but could I do it all day, every day?
Is it really a suitable career path, or do I just appreciate the role?
Looking at it another way, it’s like playing pick-up football on the weekends.
Sure, you may be passionate about the sport and you may spend a lot of time refining your skills. But that doesn’t make you a pro, it just makes you an enthusiast.
When I worked at Jugnoo, I realized that I didn’t fit in with the other developers. Our motivations were different. They cared about the engineering behind the product, while I cared more about what the product did for users.
My heart wasn’t in development. It was somewhere else.
So let’s go with that argument. Let’s say that I’m not interested in being a pro developer, I’m just an enthusiast.
What do I do now?
What kick-started this post was a very simple question:
Am I using my time wisely?
And it snowballed from there.
Should I be doing something else? What should I be doing?
The answer? There is no answer. Not yet.
Thinking is great.
Doing is better.
I parted ways with Jugnoo on August 15th. It’ll be one month next Saturday.
Yes, I’ve been keeping myself busy with WordCamp tasks, but I haven’t made much headway otherwise. It’s incredibly frustrating… and disappointing.
Continuing to pontificate won’t get me anywhere.
I need to do something, but it’ll only get done if I actually do it.
