Side Projects & Taking My Own Advice
I’ve been teaching web design and development in post-secondary for 9 years now. Two parts of this job stand out as my favorites. The first is the fundamentals course, where I get to welcome newbies into the wonderful world of HTML and CSS. The second is the final capstone course, where I get to mentor students through that nerve-wracking leap into industry. We’ve all been there at the beginning.
When students ask what they can do to improve their chances of getting a job, side projects are the first thing I recommend.
The suggestion tends to overwhelm them, or they outright dismiss it. They are already juggling multiple class projects, time management is a constant struggle, and they assume a side project means a fully fleshed-out, completed piece of work. That can be a hard thing to start.
But side projects do not have to be finished products. Small, piecemeal projects that show what you are learning and what you are passionate about are what matter. This is where you get to explore, have fun, be creative, and build something that is interesting to you. It is how I built most of my own foundation when I was starting out, and honestly, I think we have lost that spirit of playful learning in the school environment.
So yes, students, please take that advice and go build something of your own that you were not required to do for school.
Now let me turn that advice on myself. Teaching can be more than a full-time job. The constant prepping, marking, course updates, paperwork, and admin tasks can take over your life. Have I mentioned marking yet? Somewhere along the way the craft starts to drift. During the semester it is hard to find breathing room, but every May and June, when I finally get time to build new assessments, that little spark comes back. That is where I can take a breather, explore new things, and get creative in the projects I build for my students.
This is why I am starting a blog now. It is my side project and a place where I can keep working on and exploring the things that inspire me. Lately I have been doing more in-depth learning with UI design systems, and I am excited to get back to creating and building. My main focus will be my personal side projects, new topics in CSS, UX, and UI that grab my attention, and the subjects I teach that students tend to struggle with.
So this blog is my small, unfinished thing. It is not polished. It does not have a content calendar. It exists because I finally decided that starting mattered more than starting perfectly. And as a recovering perfectionist, I will keep reminding myself of that last point.