
Ask HN: Trouble focusing on improving outside of job - batt4good
Fortunately, after a 6-month bout of unemployment after leaving a BigCo (on neutral terms that I could not control) I luckily landed a job at a fantastic startup in NYC in February.  Given the current circumstances I cannot express how thankful I am to currently be employed in an org that supports me.<p>However, ADHD and covid WFH aside I&#x27;m having a lot of trouble gaining the energy or focus to continue improving as a developer.  During my job search I was mostly studying for interviews which didn&#x27;t really improve my generalist dev skills.<p>I primarily work in elixir but have side-project aspirations in JS and react.  I&#x27;m scared now, because my skills seem to be growing slowly at work but otherwise be stuck in &quot;tutorial hell&quot; as is sometimes discussed elsewhere on HN.<p>I have the chops but I think my approach to side-projects &#x2F; improving has just been too scattered.<p>I cannot emphasize how scared I am that I will become a complacent engineer that doesn&#x27;t in time either start their own company or continue to move  up the latter.<p>For context, I&#x27;m two years out of school.<p>Any help is appreciated.  The startup I work for is also actively looking for React and Elixir devs - more than happy to make introductions.
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Jugurtha
> _I primarily work in elixir but have side-project aspirations in JS and
> react. I 'm scared now, because my skills seem to be growing slowly at work
> but otherwise be stuck in "tutorial hell" as is sometimes discussed
> elsewhere on HN._

If I were in your situation, I'd drop the side projects and totally commit to
the work codebase and own it all, build tooling for the team, add in whatever
is missing: from issue templates to tests, from docs to monitoring, from
automatic deployments to refactoring. Then think about the whole product, from
design to the value it creates. Think of how you can build that organization
and make it a success. Hiring, operating. Divided attention seldom gets you
anywhere, so focusing on what will make that startup a success, whatever that
is, is the way to go in my opinion.

You'll get good faster and, ironically, you'll have more time for other
activities. But the other way isn't that effective: being spread too thin, not
up to the task at work, and wanting to improve at something else. Being good
at things compounds and frees up time to expand and explore more meta things.

It's hard to be on multiple fronts, especially with your predicament.
Sequential gets things done.

You'll also be given more latitude in your job because you deliver and add
value.

Yes, this may be terrible career advice because one might argue that side
projects are good for a résumé and you want to start a company. I'd argue that
being distracted is harming both your career and your prospects of starting a
company.

I'd say commit. Commit to doing a great job with the company you're in right
now. Climbing up the ladder, as you say, will be a consequence if you're at a
good company.

~~~
throw51319
This is def solid advice. Once you have a good idea of the codebase, going
hard like this would be like a few months of investment? Which I think pays
more dividends unless you have a burning desire for something on the side
(mastering interviews, project, side business, etc).

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heldrida
It's very beneficial to do something else that is not related with code or
tech outside work, even if just enjoying your life.

Do not feel that you have to code 24 hours a day or learn everything that
comes up, it's not possible.

Do you!

~~~
batt4good
I totally agree, and most of what I do outside of work isn't directly work
related (even though that's been very challenging during quarantine). The most
fun I've had in a while is coming up with an idea and banging on the keyboard
until it comes out haha.

However, that said. Code could help some of my non-work related projects.

I actually really enjoy coding outside of work - just having trouble even with
ADHD meds getting properly focused to learn code related things I guess?

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davidajackson
Does the startup you work for allow you work time to learn new skills? You
could mention what additional areas you could contribute in if you had skills
XYZ, and here is your path to learning them.

~~~
batt4good
They've been very supportive, however I usually like to have delineation
between work and side projects I stand to profit from.

I have had some time to learn a bit about React and TypeScript from our front-
end people. It's hard to communicate over slack, but it's cool to have pro's I
can bounce questions off of.

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deallocator
Hey, can you email me some more information about the startup? wannes.gennar
[at] gmail [dot] com

~~~
batt4good
I should add, we are only hiring within the NYC metro area.

