
Ask HN: Why do you like to tinker? - researcher_
For research, I’m trying to find out the deeper motivations of why people tinker. What’s the feeling it evokes? What’s the joy?<p>Love to read your answers!
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ecesena
For me it's all about learning. I typically pair something technical I want to
learn and something more "creative" or outside of my primary skills, this way
the learn success is guaranteed.

For learning to happen, I really need to build things in full, be cause
typically you learn the details that really matter.

For example, I wanted to learn Android Things (Android in general), and I set
myself to build a LED display. It turns out you can't control it via GPIO
because on AT that's too slow, and you need an external "video card". Next, I
was learning how to program an STM32.

My latest project is an open source security key. Eventually I want security
keys to "embedded" in other objects, such as a piece of jewelry (again, mixing
something I know and I want to get deeper at, hardware security, and something
totally unknown, jewelry). This is a multi-step project, and the first phase
is to release the security key. I just set up the website yesterday night,
feedback welcome: [https://solokeys.com](https://solokeys.com)

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meesterdude
I like to create. To have an idea and make it into something - is often an
exercise of my talents in addition to creativity. It also gives me purpose and
direction in the face of a long bout of unemployment, which helps keep me
sane.

I'm building a MTG card sorting machine, an emoji dashboard, writing a
childrens book, and learning piano, in addition to various little one-off
projects like arts & crafts. Some things are quick to bang out, others take
many months or years. It's like designing a garden - it's good to have a bunch
of things flowering at different times.

When I was a pup, I would tinker to see how things worked, or to fix them, or
to make them better.

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dasmoth
For me, I think it's substantially because it's an opportunity to get
something done on my own in a world where nearly everything "serious" is
assumed to need a team.

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drakonka
This question reminds me of the one from a few days ago about why people
choose to work on side projects. My side projects do feel like tinkering, so
if it's ok I'm going to repost my answer here with just some small wording
modifications.

I have a few reasons for liking to tinker. Tinker in this context being work
on software side projects with no super clear deadlines or goals.

1) It's what I'm used to. I don't remember a time since I got my first
computer that I didn't have some hobby/"tinker" project on the side. If I
didn't have a side project I don't know what I'd do with myself...I mean I
have other hobbies, too, but my side project _is_ my main hobby.

2) To learn. I'm self-taught and the aforementioned always-having-a-tinkering-
side-project point is how I learned and keep learning. I've gotten (I believe)
very good at retaining information I gain through tinkering and working on my
projects, and I've become proficient at picking challenges that are the
perfect difficulty for me to absorb more new knowledge in areas that are
relevant both to my personal interests and (sometimes indirectly) my job.
Sometimes if I am not understanding a certain concept or I read something I
want to grasp better, making a small project out of it or incorporating it
into an existing project and trying to actually implement something helps me
digest and internalise the concept.

3) It's fun. I originally started learning to code in order to be able to
bring the ideas in my head to life. Those ideas haven't slowed down, so
neither has my desire to bring them to life through my side projects. It is
fun to work on them and I feel a sense of accomplishment in being able to turn
what's in my mind into something real.

4) It helps me de-stress. My day job can be stressful and demanding, with long
hours around deliveries and cert deadlines. Even though my side projects and
my day job both involve programming, working on my own thing helps me de-
stress after a hard day of work. Having my own project to tinker with on the
side helps me avoid feeling like my entire life revolves around my job. I have
something fulfilling that is just entirely mine.

This could be a longer list as there are other reasons, but I think the four I
outlined above are the main reason I choose to work on side projects/tinker.
Habit, learning, fun, and stress management.

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hacalox
It's a very good way to learn new things, keep your body and mind fit and feel
yourself productive.

It's even greater if by tinkering you do something great for society,
relatives or friends.

As other people mention in this post, I also consider side-projects a way of
tinkering.

