Every developer has a folder. You know the one.
~/projects, ~/code, ~/dev. Maybe even ~/definitely-finishing-this-one.
It's where side projects go to die.
The residents
Let me introduce you to some of mine:
1. The "I'll build my own X" projects
- A custom note-taking app (because Notion wasn't enough)
- A habit tracker (used it for 3 days)
- A personal finance dashboard (ironic, given I spent money on domains for it)
Status: Last commit 8 months ago. README says "coming soon."
2. The tutorial graveyard
Half-finished courses. Abandoned YouTube series. That one Udemy purchase from 2019.
I have 47% of a Rust CLI somewhere. It prints "Hello" but not "World." Close enough.
3. The "this will make me rich" ideas
A SaaS that solves a problem nobody has. Complete with:
- Landing page ✓
- Waitlist form ✓
- Actual product ✗
The waitlist has 3 signups. All me. Testing.
4. The over-engineered todo app
Every developer's rite of passage. Mine has:
- GraphQL API
- Kubernetes config
- CI/CD pipeline
- WebSocket real-time sync
It cannot mark a task as complete. That feature is "in the backlog."
Why do they die?
Same reasons every time:
- New shiny thing - Started learning Go, abandoned the Python project
- Scope creep - "What if it also did meal planning?"
- The 80% wall - Core features done, but auth and deployment are boring
- Life - Work got busy, touched grass, forgot what the code did
The lies we tell
- "I'll come back to this"
- "The code is self-documenting"
- "I remember exactly where I left off"
- "This is a learning experience" (it was, but still)
Should you feel bad?
No.
Every abandoned project taught you something. That Rust CLI taught me lifetimes. The SaaS taught me that I hate writing landing page copy. The todo app taught me that Kubernetes is overkill for everything.
The graveyard isn't failure. It's a museum of curiosity.
The plot twist
This blog? Also a side project.
Check back in 6 months to see if it joins the others.
What's rotting in your projects folder? No judgment. We're all in this together.