Ask HN: Help I'm building my hardest software project yet. Struggling

[hoodoof]

I'm building the most challenging software application I have yet built. I'm a one man band and I do everything from back end coding to front end coding to deployment.

I'm trying to do it right, which means learning and using technologies that I am unfamiliar with, but in the long run will make me more productive.

I have a full time job as well as children so I've got alot on my plate.

It's extremely rewarding emotionally because I love the project and I am learning alot and I believe it will be something useful.

On the other hand it's taking alot longer than expected (why do I ever expect anything else?) and I'm getting exhausted from the brain taxing range of new technologies I need to learn.

I am at the point that I have proven all the key technologies and actually done all the hard technical things that need to be done. Now I need to tie it all together into an integrated working application and get it out there.

Anyone got words of encouragement to push me through to get this finished and launched? I can feel myself physically slouching under the weight of the effort.

[kefs]

It sounds like you're just struggling while on your way to your own 'black triangle' moment.. It's a good thing! The reward is totally worth it!

http://rampantgames.com/blog/?p=7745

[hoodoof → kefs]

Yes I do take the black triangle approach to development. A long period of solving problems and de-risking and learning stuff. Nothing tangible to show but a bunch of solved problems.

Next step, tie all the solved problems together into a working solution. Relatively speaking it's actually the easy bit.

[CyberFonic → hoodoof]

Thanks for engaging in the dialogue.

From your answers it would appear that you are on the brink of seeing your idea come to fruition.

If it is any help, try to integrate each technical area one by one into the complete application. The incremental results might give you that extra shot of energy seeing the finish line so close.

Good Luck!

[hoodoof → CyberFonic]

Yes I really need to see something tangible to get the boost to keep going. It's been very hard coming up to speed and now results are needed.

[transfire]

I hear you! I feel the same way. Just spent three years on an app that is about ready for release. But as a one man show... there are simply limits to what one person can do. It's hard. Basically I learned to take lots of breaks and be patient.

[pacnw]

Very interesting, as I am in a similar situation as you (but I quit my job to do it). All I can say for encouragement based on my day to day experience is: don't listen too much to your mental chatter based on emotions on a day to day basis. I find days when I get very disappointed in the pace of the progress, the look of the design, UI/UX etc, and other days when it really looks like it's coming together. Also, a lot of the landing pages/blogs about the front-end dev tools (e.g. Meteor, React, Ember, Angular etc) make it seem that an app can be thrown together in a weekend, but I have found that is definitely not the case (btw I am using React, Flux, Node stack). Best of luck to you!

[AngeloAnolin]

Look at your kids. If this would be a means to allow you to spend more time with them, then you know it is worth pursuing.

[siscia]

If you are building your hardest software yet there are few golden rules.

First of all you need to be sure that what you are doing it is worth, take a break and look at your project from a different angle, it is still worth working on it ?

Keep it simple, look at any single piece you have already build, it is necessary ? Why ? It is really necessary or is a "nice to have" ? Focus only on what is necessary, the "nice to have" will be put in place later.

Why you keep find it so "taxing" ? Have you switched paradigm ? (OOP->FP maybe ?) it should take a while, but not too long, if after a couple of months you are not comfortable yet you may consider to be sure that you have really understand what is going on...

If you are still going it is worth for sure... Keep it strong :)

[RandomBK]

You may be a one man band, but you needn't go alone! Build a rough prototype with the skills you've learned, and reach out to friends and family for their input. Their support will help you crunch through the rough times and motivate you to finish your project.

[dutchblacksmith]

Like you, i am working on a big project and have a day job. That job is running my own steel company. I realy enjoy the learning and the problem solving. And we use the software in our office. It runs for months without glitches so i think its not that bad. And now i am building a web application for my clients. So yes, it is possible and it is fun. And sometimes it is hard. And if it fails, the next project will be better. Oh, i use Lisp and postgresql, that makes it even more fun.

[CyberFonic]

Is your full time job as a software engineer?

Is the application in an area that you are intimate familiar with? Have clear idea of the use cases?

[hoodoof → CyberFonic]

>> Is the application in an area that you are intimate familiar with? Have clear idea of the use cases?

Yep I definitely understand what I'm doing but learning the specific technologies needed to do it is taxing.

[CyberFonic → hoodoof]

By avoiding the question about your full-time job, I get the impression that you might be experienced in some other field.

Which in turn suggests that you've taken on two big projects, (1) to learn a lot of technologies; and (2) to build an application. Both are commendable projects. But as you have found a huge undertaking.

To complete the application, you might need to recruit people with the required skills rather than trying to integrate and test everything on your own.

Once the application is completed, are you going to be selling it yourself? Considering that you claim to have domain knowledge this might be another reasonable guess.

[hoodoof → CyberFonic]

No money to employ people but I really wouldn't want to anyway. I only want to operate as a one man band. Despite the challenge I really enjoy the learning process.

[sharemywin]

get it finished already so we can see what you've done...lol.

[hoodoof → sharemywin]

People's software projects are interesting only until they are released then they are all very boring.

Go to ProductHunt to see todays round of new software products that deliver food to your dogs kennel door. All software projects sound interesting until they are released.

It's because the unknown is a blank canvas upon which to paint inspiration.

[coryl]

Real artists ship.

[hoodoof → coryl]

You got that right. It's still hard to do.

[whatnotests]

MONEY. There.

[hoodoof → whatnotests]

That's certainly one factor. Not everything but definitely one factor.