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Comment by Swizec | Hacker News Reader

> That kind of passion where you do it every free moment of your time/not monetary based

I used to have that passion. Every waking moment devoted to figuring out cool things. Or at least what seemed cool to me.

Then one day I joined a rocketship company and all my side projects and ideas started to feel small, boring, and insignificant. The grandest idea I could come up with couldn’t hold a light to even the most mundane problems a real business in the hockeystick part of the curve comes up with.

Sometimes I miss the motivation to tinker. Sometimes I cherish my newfound ability to relax. Perhaps one day I will tinker once more.

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I had the opposite.

I used to work for one of the most famous imaging corporations in the world. My little team was part of an elite, worldwide, organization that created instruments that sold for tens of thousands of dollars, and were used to capture some of the most iconic images in history, and make some of the most astounding scientific discoveries.

Since leaving, I have been working; mostly alone, or with very little assistance from others, so my scope has been drastically reduced. I write little apps.

I love it. I am constantly working on code. My GH ID is solid green (no exaggeration), and is not "gamed," the way some folks do it.

I have no intentions of ever working for anyone again. I was constantly told that I was wrong, that my work was insignificant, that I should not cast my eyes heavenward, etc.

These days, I set my own agenda. I design my software the way that I always wanted (and was never allowed) to, and I am absolutely thrilled with the results.

Turns out, I was absolutely right, the whole time.

I just recently started on my journey. I'm currently building my own infrastructure stack/platform to suit my needs. https://www.adama-platform.com/

That looks pretty interesting.

I wrote something like that, a few years ago; mainly to practice. I am now using it as the backend of the app I'm writing.

Good luck!

Yeah having a full time job does limit you a lot with what you can do after the day is done.

When I was younger (10+ years ago) I had all kinds of crazy ideas/things to make. High traffic websites, get rich, that kind of thing. But they were all dumb... unvalidated, went nowhere. But now that I know how to build things (web) I don't have any ideas. Funny how that works.

When you look at indie projects seems like there's so many niches/ways to make money out there. But personally I found it hard to do hence 9-5er.

This is why instead of actually executing my ideas.. i at least divinely them meticulously. I have a book filled with (to me) brilliant ideas. Who knows what will happen with them.

Just don't pay $99 (non-refundable) to sell your idea

You should not compare your own ideas to others. If an idea is extremely stupid but at the same time it gets you going in the morning you should stick to it.

Some of the most useful inventions that we use today every day have been made by very stubborn people who were told thousands of times that their idea was stupid.

I still have the motivation and desire to work on some very interesting and super hard stuff one day -- and I am 42. You should get back to that enthusiasm. Maybe that business' ideas and actual products are much more useful and interesting on a general socially-accepted level. That doesn't mean that your thing isn't the best in the world to work on for you.

So IMO get back to doing your own stuff when you have the time and energy for it.

I appreciate the sentiment. Truth is my ideas stopped getting me going in the morning because the dayjob feels like such a bigger better more interesting opportunity.

I’m sure exciting ideas will come again. Until then “Enjoying my dayjob too much” isn’t a bad place to be :)

I agree and I am happy for you that you have that going for you. Personally for 20.5 years of career I have only had 2-3 short-term contracts that truly interested me.

>Some of the most useful inventions that we use today every day have been made by very stubborn people who were told thousands of times that their idea was stupid.

That's true; Zuckerberg's parents told him that Facebook idea is stupid and that he should get his Harvard degree. Larry and Sergey couldn't sell Google to Excite for $350k because Excite's managers thought Google was unnecessary.

I’ve found myself in a similar position. I’ve often wondered whether the cause is one specific thing (eg my ideas seem small / less impactful than other projects I’ve worked on), or the culmination of several things.

I suspect in my case it’s a combination, but with a big dose of “been there, done that”. There’s only so many times you can get excited about a new tool or optimization.

The answer is, of course, to dive into something that isn’t tech. There’ll be a host of problems that seem/are fresh and interesting.

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