I am a software engineer with over 15 years of industry experience. I mainly design/architect software now a days and as part of that write enough code so my team has something to go by. I am fluent in C#, JS, Python and not so fluent, but comfortable in Ruby (RoR), Lua, C++, Java. I have tried doing side projects but without much luck. Either I get bored or lose motivation to continue or both. However, I see myself putting in extra time towards my day job, work that extends beyond a day, completely voluntarily because I really enjoy it and there is an end goal, something achievable.
So the question becomes, am I doing this all wrong? Should I really put in the effort to disconnect from the day job at the end of each day and try to really focus on some side projects? Or should I really give my day job 100% even if that means going above and beyond a typical 8-9 hour day boundary? This is a quandary I have had for a while and I am not able to resolve it on my own. So I figure I would ask the collective wisdom. Dilemma is this: if I put in extra time and energy towards my day job, I would probably only get some recognition and may be a raise, but the latter would be a long shot. However, I know I can push our company's tech limits if I did put in time outside of work hours and make us kick some ass out there. On the other hand, if I successfully get a side project of the ground, I might actually make some real side income. But again, historically I haven't been able to do so.
I always wonder if other software engineers have such a dilemma or am I the only one and the rest of you guys are absolute clear about your priorities?
So the question becomes, am I doing this all wrong? Should I really put in the effort to disconnect from the day job at the end of each day and try to really focus on some side projects? Or should I really give my day job 100% even if that means going above and beyond a typical 8-9 hour day boundary? This is a quandary I have had for a while and I am not able to resolve it on my own. So I figure I would ask the collective wisdom. Dilemma is this: if I put in extra time and energy towards my day job, I would probably only get some recognition and may be a raise, but the latter would be a long shot. However, I know I can push our company's tech limits if I did put in time outside of work hours and make us kick some ass out there. On the other hand, if I successfully get a side project of the ground, I might actually make some real side income. But again, historically I haven't been able to do so.
I always wonder if other software engineers have such a dilemma or am I the only one and the rest of you guys are absolute clear about your priorities?