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# Learning From My Side Project Mistakes

Why do most developer side projects end up as abandoned codebases? Discover how to beat tech stack paralysis, avoid scope creep, and finally ship your MVP.

- **Speakers:** Jonathan Fielding
- **Event:** WeAreDevelopers LIVE
- **Published:** December 16, 2024
- **Duration:** 15:28
- **URL:** https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1275-learning-from-my-side-project-mistakes

## Summary

Building software side projects often begins with a burst of excitement, but without a structured approach, that momentum can quickly devolve into abandoned codebases and wasted money. Drawing from personal failures on various applications—ranging from event management alternatives to web performance trackers—this narrative explores the common pitfalls developers face when pursuing independent work. The core challenge lies in managing expectations and avoiding self-sabotage, as it is notoriously difficult for engineers to say no to their own expanding ideas.

A frequent mistake is diving into development without establishing a strong purpose or measurable goals, which leads to initial excitement fading into aimlessness. To combat this, developers must prioritize functionality over flawless aesthetics. Because "perfection is a journey, not a starting point," shipping a minimum viable product (MVP) quickly is far more valuable than spending days endlessly tweaking a single UI component like a login page. Furthermore, keeping the initial project scope small and rigorously documenting new feature ideas for later prevents insidious scope creep. Even when an application launches successfully, it is critical to carefully filter incoming user feedback; attempting to implement every suggestion inevitably leads to feature bloat and losing sight of the original product vision.

Beyond project management, infrastructure and technology decisions frequently stall progress before coding even begins. Developers often fall victim to tech stack paralysis, wasting hours agonizing over frontend frameworks or deployment platforms like Kubernetes versus a straightforward EC2 backend. Accelerating development requires relying on familiar, "boring technologies" rather than trending tools that introduce an unnecessary learning curve. Additionally, choosing proprietary, closed-ecosystem platforms like Firebase can result in strict vendor lock-in, non-transferable technical skills, and severe security vulnerabilities if best practices are misunderstood. Finally, financial discipline is essential to sustaining independent work. Developers should consistently utilize free hosting tiers, defer purchasing premium domain names until absolutely necessary, and actively monitor abandoned server droplets to avoid falling victim to the sunk cost fallacy.

**Keywords:** software side projects, MVP software development, project scope creep, tech stack paralysis, proprietary vendor lock-in, user feedback filtering, software perfectionism, cloud infrastructure costs, boring technologies, monolith application deployment, firebase security vulnerabilities, sunk cost fallacy, domain name management, web performance tracking, independent developer goals

## Chapters

1. **Reflecting on personal engineering side projects and initial creations** (00:00) — Exploring how the desire to build helpful tools sparks side project ideas that sometimes fail.
1. **Establishing clear purpose and measurable project goals** (02:56) — Starting a side project without a firm goal or concrete use case often leads to abandonment.
1. **Prioritizing minimum viable functionality over flawless aesthetics** (04:13) — Obsessing over minor details like perfect login pages prevents real progress and valuable user feedback.
1. **Managing personal scope creep to complete side projects** (06:04) — Inventing unvalidated requirements derails the core focus and significantly delays project completion.
1. **Filtering user feedback to avoid excessive project bloat** (07:50) — Implementing every requested feature complicates the interface and distracts from the project's original vision.
1. **Overcoming technology choices and framework decision paralysis** (09:30) — Over-analyzing choices between popular deployment paths delays development and diminishes project enthusiasm.
1. **Avoiding proprietary technology lock-in and potential security risks** (11:14) — Adopting unfamiliar third-party platforms increases learning overhead and introduces hidden code vulnerabilities.
1. **Controlling unnecessary financial costs on unvalidated side projects** (12:45) — Delaying the purchase of domain names and premium cloud tools saves money and mitigates sunk cost traps.
1. **Summarizing key takeaways for successful software side projects** (14:28) — Prioritizing progress over perfection and utilizing familiar technologies creates a more sustainable project workflow.

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