DEV Community

Cover image for Finding the Inspiration to Build

Finding the Inspiration to Build

vincanger on March 26, 2024

Hey, I'm Vince... I’m a self-taught developer that changed careers during the Covid Pandemic. I changed because I wanted a better care...
Collapse
 
petarcvit profile image
Petar Cvitanović

I'd say the "Don’t Worry About Competition" part is really important. We found ourselves spiraling into researching tools similar to what we are building, but it played just as you described it. These tools have their niche, while we are targeting something else. Nice article!

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

Nice. That’s very cool to hear :)

Collapse
 
jonrandy profile image
Jon Randy 🎖️ • Edited

I would also say that stuff you build does not have to be useful, or solve a problem, or even be an 'app' (whatever that means). Most of the stuff I build in my spare time is totally for fun, just for the love of writing code. In my experience, this is ALWAYS the most fun stuff to build.

When you played with Lego as a kid, how often did your creations actually have a 'useful purpose'? I'm guessing 'rarely' - but you built them anyway, and it was fun. That's pretty much how 7 year old me taught himself to code, and how 47 year old me keeps coding enjoyable!

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

Yeah man. Totally agree. That’s the best way to learn and I’ve built toy apps that end up with features I use in other stuff

Collapse
 
martinsos profile image
Martin Šošić • Edited

Following up on the "Be Playful" section: I love advice from Paul Graham in this direction, where he suggests to call it an "experiment" and not "business" or "startup": this way people won't immediately judge it, and you give yourself freedom to play with it, to not be afraid of failure. Experiment succeeds even if conclusion is that it doesn't work.

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

Oh cool. I’d love to read that essay if it is one

Collapse
 
posandu profile image
Posandu

This is some good content I was looking for in DEV.

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

🙏 I appreciate the kind words. Glad you like it.

Collapse
 
fernandezbaptiste profile image
Bap

Great topic! I wonder if the community knows of Ali Abdaal - this ex-doctor turned productivity expert on YouTube. He mentions a lot about the aspect of play and having fun to overcome not wanting to start. This relates quite nicely to your mention of being playful.
I really enjoyed your piece! 😄

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

thanks, Bap! Never heard of him, but sounds really cool. Any videos you can recommend in particular?

Collapse
 
fernandezbaptiste profile image
Bap

A good starting point could be with his presentation of his new book: youtube.com/watch?v=a46eYoUpVBM

His content is not directly related to the dev world, but what he mentions overlaps with how we work as DevRels and developers. You can check out some of his popular videos. Most of his stuff is pretty high quality and has solid insights. I hope that helps you!

Collapse
 
rgolawski profile image
Rafał Goławski

Great article, something that I haven't seen for a long time. It's really inspirational. Also, congratulations on your project gaining some traction and revenue! May I ask what marketing strategy you used for it?

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

Thanks! Mostly open sourcing it helped me to talk about it openly on places like reddit without it seeming like spam

Collapse
 
srthk4370 profile image
Saarthak Singh

This post is so helpful for many people like me, cause honestly speaking, I just make so many random things which sometimes turn out good, sometimes not and when it does turn out good I feel that I should have made it into an app or something profitable but by that time I had already made the code and the motivation goes out and I am like, leave it, I will do this next time I get a good idea and the cycle continues. I feel this post will help me break the cycle this time.

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

So cool to hear. Share it with us here on dev.to when you do finish it!

Collapse
 
mastro profile image
Dimitrios Mastrogiannis

be working on things that interest you. That is really important. It is only then that you can grind, put in the hours and not feel tired. Nice article!

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

Totally agree. Thanks

Collapse
 
oleggulevskyy profile image
Oleg Gulevskyy

Nice, good points! You bring up some common misconceptions and Martin also points out a good point to add to this article :)

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

🙏

Collapse
 
sudha533 profile image
Sudha Subramaniam

It's a very nice article. Your words were not only valuable, but also incredibly motivating for me. Thank you for sharing!

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

Happy to help :)

Collapse
 
infomiho profile image
Mihovil Ilakovac

Loved this "strategically underachieve in the lower-priority activities" 🫡

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

yep. definitely underrated advice!

Collapse
 
jimajs profile image
Jima Victor

This was a good read. Exactly what I wanted to see.
I was ready to read more, then you called it a "conversation starter".😢

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

haha! oh man! not sure what else I can say on the topic besides what's already there :) What would you like to know more about?

Collapse
 
jimajs profile image
Jima Victor

More about your experience, I guess. But I believe you've still done justice to this topic. Thank you for sharing!

Thread Thread
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

awesome. will take note of this. Thanks!

Collapse
 
matijasos profile image
Matija Sosic

Love it, very actionable advice :)

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

Thanks, Sausage Bro 😎

Collapse
 
kaowebdev profile image
Андрей

Very interesting article) I'm from Ukraine and many developers from my country wants to develop own startup. I guess such article helps them to find a right motivation.

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

Yes. I know of someone from Ukraine who used OpenSaaS to build his own app and he sold it for decent money. His name is Max and he’s on the testimonials section of OpenSaaS.sh

Collapse
 
magicflute21 profile image
magicflute21

I like your emphasis on the word "playful". Today just coming back to work after a 2 day de-stressing mini-vacation, this resonates well with me 😊

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

Yep! it's surprising how much we can gain from relaxing and trying to enjoy things a bit more :)

Collapse
 
eurekalabdawara profile image
Eureka_Labdawara

Very inspiring and encouraging, making it more fun as experiments and just to make for the sake of making it is something that I should always remember.

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

Thanks!

Collapse
 
srbhr profile image
Saurabh Rai

Need suggestions on what to do?

Image description

Collapse
 
emmo00 profile image
Emmanuel (Emmo00)

Nice article

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

🙏

Collapse
 
dev_sd profile image
Soumajit Das

Agreed

Collapse
 
vincanger profile image
vincanger

🙏