November 29, 2005 6:46 AM

Finding pleasure in a side gig
Posted by Jason Butlerat 6:46 AM

A life of web geekery brings many joys, not the least of which is the ability to quickly transform an interesting random thought into a real-world tool. The New York Times Company is kind enough to pay me to do that sort of thing here at the office, but when I go home, I use the same skills to work on side projects, amusing myself through my craft, experiencing the sheer joy of creating.

But what about people less wedded to BBEdit, people who have a hard time translating their work skills to outside projects? How do they express themselves outside of the day job? CareerJournal writes about finding pleasure in a second job.

But for high-achieving managers, lawyers and the like, a different dynamic is in play. We can pay the bills just fine. We've settled into the middle of our careers, performing our jobs well but not all that differently from the way we did them last year. As much as we appreciate the dependability of a proven career track, we yearn to prove our worth afresh in some new area. We crave the joy of doing something we're passionate about. Side jobs give us those things.

I can't imagine a time when I won't have three or four side projects going. Of course, my new baby daughter may have something to say about how I much time I may devote to them.