Side-project Memes

The ancient art of procrastination, elevated to a professional skill. Nothing triggers a programmer's sudden interest in that half-baked side project like a mounting pile of actual responsibilities. The side project - where bugs are exciting challenges instead of soul-crushing tickets, and there are no stakeholders asking "is it done yet?" every 15 minutes. That personal project is basically therapy without the co-pay.

SWEET MOTHER OF PROCRASTINATION! 😱 The absolute AUDACITY of John's brain to completely IGNORE the flaming dumpster fire of work responsibilities and instead choose the forbidden fruit of a side project! This is the programmer's equivalent of seeing your house burning down and deciding it's the PERFECT time to redecorate your neighbor's garden gnome collection. The sheer chaotic energy of having a to-do list longer than the terms and conditions you never read, yet somehow finding the motivation to build that random Discord bot you've been dreaming about for 0.2 seconds. Why fix what's broken when you can create NEW broken things?! It's not procrastination if you're still writing code, right? RIGHT?!

The eternal battle within every developer's soul: the responsible black wolf saying "keep your current job" versus the delusional white wolf whispering "quit your job and build an app nobody wants." That second wolf is the reason why there are 47 different to-do list apps on your phone right now, all with exactly one user. It's also why your friend keeps talking about his "revolutionary" idea that's basically just Uber but for walking people's goldfish. The first wolf pays your bills. The second wolf is why you have 17 half-finished GitHub repositories that haven't been touched since 2019.

The eternal battle raging in every developer's soul. One wolf whispers about stability, health insurance, and regular paychecks. The other wolf convinces you that your half-baked note-taking app with blockchain integration will definitely disrupt the market and make you the next tech billionaire. After 15 years in the industry, I've watched countless colleagues feed that white wolf, only to return to the corporate kennel six months later with their tails between their legs. The startup graveyard is littered with "revolutionary" apps that solved problems nobody had.

The eternal battle raging in every developer's mind. One wolf whispers, "Keep that stable paycheck and health insurance," while the other howls, "Throw it all away for your revolutionary app idea that's basically just Uber but for plant watering." The second wolf conveniently forgets to mention the 99% startup failure rate, endless ramen dinners, and explaining to your parents why you left a six-figure job to build something that already exists with "blockchain technology." Yet we still feed that white wolf every time we open GitHub at midnight...

Ah, the classic programmer prioritization algorithm. John has actual work to do but his brain has decided that now is the perfect time to start that revolutionary npm package that will surely change the world. Nothing fuels productivity quite like the crushing weight of looming deadlines. The side project will be abandoned in exactly 2.7 days, right after he creates the GitHub repo and writes half a README.

That hollow feeling when you finally finish the side project you've been obsessing over for months. The void stares back at you as you realize you've got nothing left to debug at 2AM. What now? Start another project that will consume your soul, or actually get some sleep for once? Who are we kidding—you're already opening a new GitHub repo.

The perfect progression of a tech bro's descent into madness! First, they're all chill about making an app. Then they drop the "backend in Rust" bomb like they've discovered fire. But when they reveal their Svelte frontend, you can practically hear the hipster energy intensifying. And the cherry on top? A whopping 69 users (nice) that turns them into a literal demon. Classic case of "I used the trendiest tech stack but forgot about the whole 'solving actual problems' part." Happens to the best of us... or worst of us, depending on your perspective.