How to learn new things using side projects

Re:How to learn new things using side projects by stickperson on Friday June 13, 2014 @11:17AM (#7889231)

I use Perl at work but have been working on a side project using Django and Angular to 1) learn/keep up with the languages I'm interested in and 2) potentially turn it into a business. I'm sure there are tons of things wrong with it, but I know I'm learning a lot just by forcing myself to figure things out.

One problem, though, is that I may start looking for a new job soon. I don't want to make this open source since I may try to sell this at some point. If you look at my Github you won't see a lot of activity even though I'm working on this every single day. I know employers are interested in seeing that you're working on something though. How do I make sure I don't get looked over?

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Re:How to learn new things using side projects by Duhveed on Friday June 13, 2014 @12:03PM (#7889490)

I've used side projects to learn every valuable skill I have. Open source projects are a great way to publicize your new talents, but I don't think it's a prereq for landing a job that makes use of the new skill. Being able to talk intelligently about a subject during an interview goes a long way. As does having a depth of knowledge on a variety of languages, environments, technologies, etc.

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Re:How to learn new things using side projects by jon-wood on Friday June 13, 2014 @11:20AM (#7889255)

I'd just be up front about that when applying for jobs. Tell them that you're working on something in your spare time, you don't want to open source it, but if they want to see some recent example code then they can take a look (if you're ok with that).

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