When I need to unwind from coding, I code. Some play games, some watch movies, I just like building things, learning about them and sharing the knowledge. So just like anything else we do on the side to keep ourselves sane, as long as it doesn't hinder our performance, we don't mind.

We actually try to encourage each other to try new things. It keeps us sharp. We usually end up open sourcing it and integrating it into TapIn.tv anyways. I'll probably end up learning a lot about efficient time management, managing customer relationship, and machine learning I can bring back to my team through this experiment.

Who knows, maybe if this works out, we'll try to be more desperate at TapIn.

We're all in agreement with Vu's thoughts in the "Before We Begin" section.

There's a nice benefit to it besides personal happiness; every side-project we've worked on so far has ended up getting worked back into our product in some way.

That's good to hear. I'm trying to convince my current boss that promoting side-projects (via hack days etc.) will be beneficial to the company but so far no luck!

Yeah, for us, it's kind of like 20% time except you still do it on top of all of your work and don't get paid more. 120% time?

So, the same as at Google?

We all do a ton of projects in our spare time. And not just web stuff. tylermenezes installed a power outlet into his car. I built an XMPP chat bot that learns. vu0tran made a "search engine." And we're all okay with this because it really adds to the environment we're in. We all feel best when we're building a lot. It keeps us learning and thinking. It feels productive, and as long as everything gets done at work, why not?

Also, it's really entertaining watching each other try to make things. I can't wait to see what happens when Vu doesn't get his company-paid lunch this weekend, and he has no money.