The Importance of Pet Projects
Pet projects, side projects, side hustles. For many engineers, having a creative outlet outside of their day-to-day work is essential for both professional growth and maintaining a healthy state of mind. While I acknowledge that not every engineer has the time or desire to code outside of work, the concept of a pet project can be just as fulfilling when found within work itself.
I heard some advice recently that engineering leaders shouldn’t encourage their engineers to work on side projects as not everyone is fortunate enough to have the spare time to write code beyond work hours. I can appreciate that, I’ve worked with talented engineers who never wrote code outside of work, and it never diminished how I assessed their abilities or engagement. If anything, it often leaves them more rested and focused during work hours.
And while I live a relatively privileged life, being a father of 3 active boys who are all involved in extracurricular activity means I am very time poor. Still, I love my side projects. I find time to work on them when then kids have gone to bed, choosing to code instead of playing games or watching TV, or occasionally while doing both.
For me, side projects are an outlet for perfectionism. While I expend a lot of energy during work hours ensuring I’m productive and working on the right things, side projects allow me to freely chase curiosity, even if that means spending nights solving a potentially pointless problem, only to discard the solution during a refactor. Very few of my side projects reach a production-ready state, and even fewer receive engagement. That’s okay, because they’re built for me and no one else. I have a sock drawer of abandoned projects, and I treasure each of them. They’re a learning tool and a creative outlet free from the constraints of work efficiency.
Take my recent project, Playdates, for example. It started as a simple web scraper and cron job built for my personal use, a convenient way to keep track of my kids sport games, but evolved into a small platform built with some unfamiliar tech, in this case Python Lambdas and FastAPI instead of Node.js. I also used it as a chance to evaluate Grafana as an alternative to Datadog observability that I use at work. I wasted some time building a password-protected beta invite that ended up hindering signups, so I scrapped it entirely.
And here’s the thing: my employer benefits from it. Time and time again, I find myself in situations where I can draw from recent experience in a side project to inform decisions at work. It’s a virtuous cycle, work projects inspire side projects, and side projects, in turn, provide insights that improve my work. An example of this is when I spent hours on a personal project solving how to do file uploads with Apollo Server 4 on a serverless stack, and we hit the same challenge at work the next week.
Pet projects don’t have to be something that’s only done on personal time. I encourage my team to find their own pet projects at work. You can experience many of the same benefits, learning, honing your craft, and diving deep into problems, by working on nice-to-have projects that might not be top business priorities but still contribute meaningfully to the organisation.
As long as the team is delivering on their core objectives, I believe it’s valuable for engineers to pursue problems they’re passionate about. Giving them a sense of ownership over what they work on boosts morale and motivation. It also provides room to experiment and solve problems properly before they become critical and burdened by time pressure. Establishing clear boundaries is important though, such as allowing a set number of hours per week or using it as a reward for meeting key priorities.
To be clear, side projects shouldn’t be a requirement or an expectation of software engineers. But they are a helpful tool for learning, creativity, and developing mastery. While a lack of personal coding time shouldn’t reflect poorly on an engineer, someone who chooses to spend their spare time building rather than consuming demonstrates a deep passion for their craft. Pet projects at work can provide engineers with ownership and agency while still aligning with business goals.