That joy of starting a new project.

I always start a new project full of hope and inspiration. Ideas just keep flowing. I start to write the code. It is amazing how sometimes you are only limited by how fast you can type. Then comes the time where you have your minimum viable product or MVP and all the inspiration goes away. But then you start thinking about a new idea and the cycle repeats itself.

Like my fellow programmers, I get very excited solving technical problems. When I find an interesting idea, I do a quick check to see who my competitors are and where they stand. Seeing that my idea is already taken is hardly a reason for me to stop working on it. I fire up my IDE, create a new repository, import my framework, and the coding begins.

I become obsessed at this point and work hours on end to get something up and running. I try not to be flashy with the UI, hence I should start using bootstrap, and code something that is just good enough to be deployed. I post a link on a few websites to let people check it out and give me some feedback. When I see a comment that makes sense, I try to implement it right away.

It doesn't take long for the pace to slow down. As the days go by I put less and less effort on the project. I start questioning if it was a good idea in the first place and ask my friends for advice. The main reaction from people when they see someone reworking an idea that already exist is:

Um... did you know that thiscoolwebsite.com does that already?

At this point I start losing interest in my own project and blame it on the lack of time. I work full time and very tired when I come home to work on my stuff.

I file my project under the "revisit someday" folder.

The first few days are filled with guilt, but then something magical happens. A new idea comes into mind. You feel a little spark of hope again and you are back in business. You tell yourself that this time you have learned from your past mistakes (what mistakes?) and will do a better job.

Are there any advantages to this way of working? I try to console myself that at least now I have a lot of projects up and running and they are different enough that it helps me learn new stuff everyday. One day I can take the time to see which project has more potential and just exclusively work on it. For now I am doing a round robin on my projects and trying to cut down on starting new projects.

I think it is time I finally make this statement and try to break this pattern:

Hi. My Name is Ibrahim and I am addicted to new projects.

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