[Off-Topic] I'm getting JUCE/Programming withdrawals - is it possible to progress when on a time/energy budget?

Hi all,

A bit ranty, non-specific, not a direct coding question, and long. feel free to ignore.

A couple of months ago, my progress was coming along nicely. My programming compentence had jumped in a few months, greater than it ever had over the course of the last 15 years I have spent casually learning it!! I was getting somewhere for the first time!

However, and as predicted, my source of sustanance was finite, and I knew eventually I would need to take on a job. That time has come, and the last couple of weeks I have been terribly busy with a job, and outside of work, has left me with relatvely few brain cycles left to spend on the hard craft of programming. This might get better over the coming weeks, however my lack of time situation won’t.

There were still many things I wanted to do.

  • figure out rvalues and move semantics (wtf)
  • Start and finish every book by Scott Meyers
  • Accept the CPP Core Guidlines as my bible.
  • look into graphical programming/libraries, maybe OpenCV, SDL, openGL etc.
  • finish my JUCE project (a useless application that perfoms a realistic simulation of fire)
  • Just generally do good stuff and be accepted into the community as a programmer!

In six months i’ll finish my contract and have some spare cash and time.

What should I do, should I just chill and put everything on hold and come back strong in the new year…

Or is there anything I could be doing now, like little micro tasks, daily programming exercises, or something I could squeeze in? Any tips or messages of moral support?

Thanks!

Nothing stopping you reading programming books on the toilet. Keep at it or you’ll forget quickly. It’s like learning a foreign language. It is hard in the evening after a days work though.

For your project, maybe create issues in GitHub or JIRA or something and break down the workload into tasks and also log your effort on each of them in case you have to leave it and come back. It’s a good way of working regardless.

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My 2cents: When time and resources are scarce focus on what you enjoy the most. Motivation is the mother of all progress.

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This. That’s generally how I’ve learnt best. Set yourself a goal of building something you want to exist. Good to have some good text books to hand too, but no need to read them like the Bible…!

Thanks guys.

Duly noted. I’m gonna take some time off. fall into a rhythm, and then slowly build back up from there.