>> At least I realized I loose interest in my side projects the moment they become a chore
Unfortunately, any reasonably complex side project eventually becomes work. It's still useful to keep grinding, as it builds perspective on why things are built the way they are, even when you have "freedom" to to implement them any way you like. What you don't have is infinite time though so if you wanna actually be able to use the darn thing, you have to settle for an imperfect design which soon enough will start to show it's limitations but instead of rewriting, you keep duct taping if because something that just works today is infinitely more business valuable than perfect tomorrow. Particularly when you realized from experience that tomorrow still won't be perfect, just late.
For clarification, I'm talking about building an automated trading system. And to get an idea of the complexity involved, just take a look at the "order" class in Interactive Brokers API. If you thought (side, price, quantity) is what defines an order, you're being naive: https://interactivebrokers.github.io/tws-api/classIBApi_1_1O...
Also even when you start with a mindset "I don't need all of this, my stuff will be simple", as I said, over enough time, use cases pile up and your original "simple" design either has to give way or become "useless".
I think it's an incredibly spoiled perspective that anything that becomes a chore is no longer fun or worth doing. Practicing piano is a chore. Repeating the same piece, the same finger movements for an hour or two isn't necessarily fun. But it is satisfying at the end of the day and it is fulfilling. Fun isn't necessarily the goal. I can spend hours banging my head against the wall while trying to build a piece of software. It can be tedious, frustrating, and tiring. It's rarely "fun". But in the end, it's satisfying and it's fulfilling and tomorrow I'll do it again because I want to.
> you keep duct taping if because something that just works today is infinitely more business valuable than perfect tomorrow.
See, that’s exactly what I was arguing against. Side projects are allowed to be for fun, they don’t need to have business value at all! Not everything you do needs to be a hustle. Doing something for the sake of doing, not achieving, is a great way of honing your skills while relieving stress. Human minds are not built for KPIs, but experiencing the progress of making something to your own design.
What you are working on seems genuinely useful, and if that gives you joy, all props to you. I however advocate for programmers that find joy in programming to work on a project far removed from any economic value, and just focus on the act of creating.
Unfortunately, any reasonably complex side project eventually becomes work. It's still useful to keep grinding, as it builds perspective on why things are built the way they are, even when you have "freedom" to to implement them any way you like. What you don't have is infinite time though so if you wanna actually be able to use the darn thing, you have to settle for an imperfect design which soon enough will start to show it's limitations but instead of rewriting, you keep duct taping if because something that just works today is infinitely more business valuable than perfect tomorrow. Particularly when you realized from experience that tomorrow still won't be perfect, just late.
For clarification, I'm talking about building an automated trading system. And to get an idea of the complexity involved, just take a look at the "order" class in Interactive Brokers API. If you thought (side, price, quantity) is what defines an order, you're being naive: https://interactivebrokers.github.io/tws-api/classIBApi_1_1O...
Also even when you start with a mindset "I don't need all of this, my stuff will be simple", as I said, over enough time, use cases pile up and your original "simple" design either has to give way or become "useless".