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WeAreDevelopers LIVE โ€ข Nov 11, 2026

Why Your Side Projects Are Worth Sharing

Haimantika Mitra, Chris Heilmann, Daniel Cranney

Haimantika Mitra proves that building quirky side projects accelerates your developer career faster than startup hustle culture. Stop hiding your weekend code experiments and start sharing them today.

Starting at 28:42 ยท Watch from the beginning

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#1 about 5 min

Traveling to India and exploring authentic regional cuisine

Anticipation for a trip to India sparks a discussion on cultural differences and authentic regional cuisine.

#2 about 4 min

Networking on social media and the evolution of Twitter

How tech community relationships are formed online and why the shift from Twitter to X reduced platform whimsy.

#3 about 8 min

Apple adaptive dark mode and the evolution of web browsers

The implications of operating systems overriding website themes and how browser usage metrics shape the web.

#4 about 6 min

Discord search indexing and discarding the Electron framework

The privacy concerns of indexing public server messages and the performance benefits of moving away from Electron.

#5 about 5 min

Debating the reliability of AI agents for quality assurance

Why human oversight remains critical in software testing despite the rise of automated AI agents.

#6 about 2 min

Rebuilding the X application with AI and minimal engineering

Analyzing the claim that a small team rebuilt a major social platform from scratch in six months.

#7 about 9 min

Unexpected hardware features and web security vulnerabilities

An exploration of Chromium DevTools for agents, cross-device mouse tracking, and generating JavaScript strings without parentheses.

#8 about 7 min

Building a static blog using modern CSS and HTML

How native HTML elements and modern CSS features eliminate the need for JavaScript in simple UI components.

#9 about 6 min

Playing the Faker News tech headline guessing game

A game testing the ability to distinguish real technology news from fabricated AI headlines.

#10 about 16 min

Approaching side projects for learning and personal enjoyment

Why building fun experiments without pressure fosters creativity and practical skill development.

#11 about 2 min

Separating side projects from company hardware and resources

The legal and professional importance of building personal projects on personal devices.

#12 about 3 min

Upcoming developer events and prioritizing mental health over hustle

Details on upcoming community workshops and the importance of disconnecting to prevent developer burnout.

Matching moments

3:37 min

Balancing developer productivity tools with digital nostalgia

Andrew MacLean Andrew MacLean +2 ยท LIVE

3:34 min

Combating burnout through unproductive side projects

Ana Rodrigues ยท LIVE

3:05 min

Cultivating developer creativity through independent web projects

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Shifting developer workloads and realistic AI productivity gains

Julia Kordick Julia Kordick +2 ยท LIVE

4:40 min

Exploring experimental side projects and specialized developer tools

Kate Astrid Kate Astrid +2 ยท LIVE

2:34 min

Amplifying human stories in the tech industry

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