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Comment by nicbou | Hacker News Reader

I run a website called All About Berlin now. I help people figure out life in a new country and navigate German bureaucracy.

It was a passion project that kept growing. Eventually I figured that I could live from it. It didn't pay as well, but I would no longer have to set an alarm in the morning or attend all-hands meetings.

This was about 4 years ago. I have no regrets. I had not realised how programming for a corporation utterly destroyed my passion. A few months after leaving, I started coding for fun again and never stopped.

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As I get older, the idea of "coding for fun" is very much akin to "being an author" or "artist". I appreciate those who appreciate the craftsmanship of it all.

Kind of the difference between writing blogspam versus short stories, maybe?

Either way, great site + thank you for sharing.

That's exactly how it feels. It's much nicer to create for the sake of it, without the tedium of meetings, tickets, sprints or even users.

Hell, there's even a difference between writing blogspam and high effort content about the same topic. I genuinely love delving into the minute aspects of German bureaucracy, because no one really put those details on the internet before.

Another aspect is that people genuinely appreciate my work. It's an awesome feeling, and it certainly kept me going.

Coding for a corporation makes me feel the same. It’s a lot of theatre and politics. It’s constant pressure for some unexciting feature you have no choice but to make and then they just lay everyone off to celebrate when it’s finished. Meanwhile the dev ops team is busy changing things to get promo and breaking everyone’s tools in the process while PMs trying to get promo pull their hair out trying to make everyone go faster. It can feel like hell on earth at some companies. And the only winners are the executives who are on another plane of existence from the average employee.

Anyway, congratulations on moving on and having some success.

Coding for oneself is pure bliss in comparison. It's the office work part of software development that kills the fun. Now it's a much more pragmatic hobby with a touch of whimsy. I love it!

You are living the dream. Compensation is pointless if you make enough and is satisfied with what you have.

Working like this can bring a lot of satisfaction because in the end you help a lot of people, like me (also a Berliner!).

In a big organization it's very unlikely that you'll get that kind of satisfaction.

It plays a big role for sure. I do concrete things and get direct feedback. It's very different from the abstract cloud-wrangling I was doing at my last job.

I'm glad that the website helped!

Thanks for making it Nicolas, All About Berlin is an immensely useful resource and has made the lives of so many newcomers to Berlin much easier.

If you don't mind, how does All About Berlin make money?

I don't see any ads or affiliate stuff in there (... and that's awesome, btw).

Affiliate stuff. It's only on some pages. The immigrant's journey involves a few necessary purchases and I'm here to help them choose.

I'm pretty neutral with my recommendations, unless I really know what I'm talking about. I don't want it to turn into another shallow affiliate sales funnel.

You're doing a great job, it doesn't feel inadequate at all.

Congratulations!

I love your site & it’s a fantastic resource!

Thank you! After all those years I still love getting this kind of positive feedback

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