Code Don’t Change the World
Bring more meaning to your projects
Pandemics, conflicts, protests, injustice … 2020 is by far the best year to reflect on what we do. What the purpose and is that really worth it ?
I like to discover new technologies, I like to experiment with new frameworks, new languages to build products I find cool.
It’s important to learn every day, never stop this habit. Learn about topics you don’t master well: UX/UI designs, marketing, entrepreneurship, motion design…
Why ? Because sooner or later you’re going to need it to do something meaningful.
Maybe you are in a situation looking for meaning in your project, in your life as a developer and seeing this world going more bad every single day, increasing the gap between what you do and what you really want to do.
So, I’ll tell some thoughts I have on how to be a better developer. A better design. A better maker.
“Cool” projects are not enough.
In a former company I worked for, I met one of the best developers I know.
This kind of guy who has a lot of stars on Github, who create the coolest projects in the company.
We took a coffee and started talking about what he is working on right now. It was a mix of localization and real-time conversations. I like it !
It was a great idea, like the code was.
Then, I asked him a question: Why?
Do people want your product? What is the pain point or problem you solve?
The conversation has turned short.
You can have passion about building new project because you love code, but it’s not enough and often results in failure, like this guy’s project.
Wozniak’s code took meaning because of Jobs.
Be like Jobs.
Hell, it’s difficult for technical peoples. Most of us don’t care about sales. Don’t care about customers. We want to build something.
But you can have the best well-designed product, if you don’t know how to sell it, it will never be useful for someone else.
Steve Jobs has brought the vision, he knew what was good for people and how to make the computing easier. Simplicity and minimalism was his core values.
It’s not all about having the direction where to go, you need a ship. Not buying a ship, but building a ship and that's why we are made for.
As developers we love building products that take care of a cause, something we want to see in people’s lives. We want users to use our products, we want a community of people using our product because tech is not enough. We need humans to bring life to our projects.
You are maybe more Wozniak-oriented. Or a Jobs-oriented developer. Or both ! I encourage you to try to be both.
It puts aside your comfort, efforts, time but it’s worth the result.
World desperately needs solutions to problems.
And sometimes code is not enough. You have to go further.
You can ask yourself, “How could I find real problems?”, “How to know my idea gonna work?”
There is one answer: People.
Go talk to some people. You’ll find everyone’s complaining. Everybody’s got problems.
Every problem is a viable business idea.
You’ll have a lot of business ideas after that, but choose one and dig deeper. Build a MVP. Make peoples happier by removing their pain point.
Of course you will not change the world by doing so, it’s a drop in the ocean. But if everyone of you transform real world problems to solutions, it will change the world.
I’m speaking about ethical solutions. It doesn’t change anything if you value money over people.
And believe me, a non-ethical business is a non-viable company.
Stop what you are doing right now and meet people.
Online or maintaining social distancing, of course!
It’s time to get out of our comfort zone.
The world is going bad and needs people like you who read this article to the end. Need people who can build applications, businesses that help people.
If you already impact some people around you, I’ll be glad to discover your product. Let me know in the comments.
We must learn from our role models. Stay inspired by projects that are in line with your values and speak to you. Some of mine are freecodecamp.org, monday.com, gumroad.com or dev.to.
Keep coding. Keep building cool projects good for humans.
