If you, the reader, are like me, chances are you spend your fair share of your time programming during the weekend. It’s in us; it’s a passion. But, I believe that some of us are doing it wrong. Some people work on the same line of technologies during the weekend as they do during the week. They do not expose themselves to new technologies; always stuck with the same comfortable boundaries. It’s time to push yourself.

There is nothing wrong by doing programming during the weekend. For me, it’s an itch that needs to be scratched. Though, I try to avoid using technologies that I use at work, to expose myself to the ever changing world of programming. Sometimes, it’s not easy to expose yourself to new technologies. There are several barriers that hinder this.  Here are a few.

It’s a new programming language

Chances are that if you’re trying a new technology, it’s backed up by a different programming language. This means that you’ll likely to get stuck in very trivial problems, such simply forgetting syntax or lacking the knowledge of the underlying APIs. You’ll end up re-implementing features that probably already exist and provided natively by the language’s supporting libraries. That’s OK though, you’ll likely to end up Google-ing problems whilst doing so, and learning new techniques whilst doing so.

It’s a new programming paradigm

This is a bit tougher. You’ll be leaving the typical train of thought that you usually think with. A typical example is a C# / Java developer having a crack at some C programming. Although C# / Java are indeed influenced by C, they live in a separate programming paradigm. C# / Java are object-oriented languages, whilst C is a procedural language. You’ll need to think quite differently when programming in these languages.

It’s a different programming genertion

This is similar to the point above, but simply different classification. One might work a lot with 3GL languages, such as C# / Java / C or your typical run-off-the-mill language. You want to have a crack at some good SQL. It’s a different programming generation on it’s own. The definition might be a bit stumped, but the differences certainly exist. 3GL languages deal with general-purpose langues and 4GL deal with table structures. One is not meant to replace the other; they are simply complementing each other.

It’s a different application type

Most of us developers normally work targeting a type of application such as Web Applications or desktop applications. Designing an application to target any one of these types require a very different train of thought. Writing a desktop application? You need to think about having a fluid experience, whist probably being fairly portable. Writing a web application? It needs to work across browsers and different types of clients. Each of these applications require a very different tool-set (and potentially, programming language). Also, even if you’re targeting the same type of applications, there are very different types of solutions that lie in the same application paradigm.

It’s a different approach of the same application type

If I’m honest, I could not come up with an appropriate title for this category. I’ll try to explain. Let’s consider the desktop programming side for this category. There are numerous different applications that live in the application type. These are: your typical desktop application, a background service / daemon, a 3D application, a driver, you name it! For each type of desktop application, a very different tools and skillset is required.

What can we conclude from these previous points? We can see that there are loads of different areas that as programmers, we have probably never experimented with. If you pick one of the points that I mentioned above and apply it to your weekend programming, it will be a totally new experience for you.

Where can one start? Well, it’s easy! One can apply one of the different approaches that I just mentioned above and take it to Google / YouTube! You can also experiment with other premium providers such as Pluralsight and such. These paid platforms do not come cheap, but most of their content come from very reputable people and provide excellent material to learn.

Am I the only guy who says this? No, and most of the people are sticking with this trend. An article from StackOverflow illustrate my points mentioned above, basically they checked what people are searching for during the week, and compared them to the results people are searching during the weekend. One can see that for example, SharePoint is clearly a topic that is only worked on during the weekend and Haskell is a weekend project! Check the full article here.

 

What’s in it for you in the end of the day? Let’s highlight some points.

Expand your professional career.

Getting stuck in the same technologies over and over again is obviously not helping you expanding your career. Your CV will never grow; it’ll just show that you’ve stuck in the same comfortable zone forever, showing that you’re probably not willing to step out of your comfort zone. On the other hand, showing experiences in vast areas show that you are never tired of learning, always up for a new challenge and you can step out of your comfort zone.

Gather new skills.

Sometimes seeing different languages, tutorials or simply different approaches to solving different tasks will enrich your mind. Even if you capture a single skill from a weekend’s worth of development, it makes you a better developer.

Gain a new outlook.

Sometimes, you’re stuck thinking that your way is the only way, or the best way to solve a task. Then, you’re following a new technique in a completely different language or paradigm and realise that there exists a totally different solution to your everyday task that you can apply.

Contribute to the community.

We’ve all used projects that have been written by the community, for the community. Have you ever contributed back If you’re stuck with the same skill-set, probably not. Learning new stuff will enable you to do just so. Plus the satisfaction of giving back the community is simply a great feeling.

Have fun!

Last, and probably the most important, is having fun! Doing something that you don’t love doing so is pointless. This is work that you may never get to use in your professional life it’s just work that needs to get your programming juices flowing and enjoying oneself learning and experimenting with new things.