I think there's some overlap with fame culture here too.
I'm a nobody and I'm sad. If everyone knew me I'd be happy.
A finger closes on the monkey's paw; You're famous now, for getting your drunk ass taken down in a restaurant waiting area. Now everybody hates you, and they recognize you while you're grocery shopping.
I think the reason why a big fraction of success stories comes from people who built something for themselves first is not just that they have a subject matter expert, or a captive audience (which doesn't hurt!). It's that they know the work is important, even if nobody else knows.
I have a project I used to work on where I got wedged on a rapidly shifting API for a dependency. I had grand plans for solving a problem for a niche that is one of my hobbies. Part of getting back into it has been trying to figure out how to be more... selfish. What parts of it would help me, as a tool? Not the bits that would improve my resume (turns out that doesn't motivate me very well), but me personally. Then maybe my friends. Then if I'm still going, the groups that were my original target.
I'm a nobody and I'm sad. If everyone knew me I'd be happy.
A finger closes on the monkey's paw; You're famous now, for getting your drunk ass taken down in a restaurant waiting area. Now everybody hates you, and they recognize you while you're grocery shopping.
I think the reason why a big fraction of success stories comes from people who built something for themselves first is not just that they have a subject matter expert, or a captive audience (which doesn't hurt!). It's that they know the work is important, even if nobody else knows.
I have a project I used to work on where I got wedged on a rapidly shifting API for a dependency. I had grand plans for solving a problem for a niche that is one of my hobbies. Part of getting back into it has been trying to figure out how to be more... selfish. What parts of it would help me, as a tool? Not the bits that would improve my resume (turns out that doesn't motivate me very well), but me personally. Then maybe my friends. Then if I'm still going, the groups that were my original target.