Ask HN: How to Implement Ideas and when to leave them?
I truly believe that I have some programming ideas (like hey lets do X thing but the twist of Y) (like decentralized link shorteners) which are really weird but could have some impact on the world.
To me , it feels like I get overwhelmed , Like I wanted to automate signal-chat app (https://github.com/bbernhard/signal-cli-rest-api/issues/643)
I get to something which can be considered very decent for my age and I learn something new for my age (16 here) (though I used claude for this)
but I just can't justify it taking my head for like a week straight and eating my marks.
I can't actually seem to have balance. I have had enough. I wanted to create this really cool project that everybody likes and gets stars on github , I wanted to be the cool guy in coding (I know sounds cringe) , I look up to people like primagen , fireship , maybe even theo . But now I just feel like programming has become my tool of saying hey I know things , instead of actually having impact in the world.
I feel like chasing the clout of internet people which just feels weird. I was once in a discord chat (not even related to foss) and there was this one guy who belittled me for not having enough stars (like I think I have 0 stars from anybody else or very less) and he had like 20 something. It just feels wrong. Open source doesn't seem like the thing I had hoped it was. Some people star something if the project is great (maybe like signal) but doesn't have a perfect api (I think)*
It just feels like I am ranting. I used to get really good marks in studies untill I am daydreaming about how to proceed in this action. It has truly taken a toll at me. I feel like living a double life.
I feel so distracted , fuzzed out. I just feel like Leaving coding for 2 years (I am in high school right now) and to join it after 2 years when I am officially in college and this would be the thing which would matter then.
(I like maths , physics but chemistry has just taken another level of toll at me , I just can't do organic chemistry because instead of organic chemistry , I am messing up with electron debugging and trying to find how to use signal to create decentralized shorteners / storage using group avatars or some other idea like a alternative to bittorrent which can work over normal vpn ) I don't even think that I can earn money with any of these things. Most of these are p2p-ish , the most I can earn is someone's good will but I won't forsake my mental health just for that , I suppose.
> I just feel like Leaving coding for 2 years (I am in high school right now) and to join it after 2 years when I am officially in college
I did that. Admittedly, I did that in the 80s, so things are not the same now. But I grew up dabbling with old Apple ][s, and then stopped when high school came around. I didn't even really pick it up in college - but my first job out of college was in the tech world, and my career went just fine from there.
You have lots of time ahead of you. You are correct that you don't need to thrash your mental health at this point in life over such things. Just learn and grow yourself. Don't fall into the traps of FOMO or trying to live up to what the top handful of other youths are doing. Live your own life, enjoy it, learn all you can, and be ready to have an impact when the opportunity truly presents itself.
1. Idea is not "lets do X thing but the twist of Y" - it's just an emotion, sentiment, vibe at best.
Ideas is "this is how people do X, they spend/make Y amount of money of it. If they use my product that does Z instead - they will make/waste Q amount of money/time. Where Q is _significantly_ less/more than Y. I am confident this estimation is correct because: a) i know/have first hand some actual real world example of it b) i use some _very_ similar examples that support this"
Only then you go check and see if there is a real demand and you have a necessary skill to deliver.
2. Aggressively use money filter for your ideas - it is not ideal but only good enough measurable tool we have to estimate something's worth. Including ideas and your time investment in pursuing them.
For example if you apply this filter to many so called "micro" saas things you may end up concluding that it is far more profitable and reliable investment of your time to score a good FAANG position. Of course there are many other considerations, but money is the best starting point.
If money doesn't concern you at all — you're in the artistic domain, not in business one.
Then just go and create whatever and however you feel like.
If you're talented and lucky enough - something will stick some day.
It's useful to stay within some niche for enough time to build solid skills. To have a backup plan of regular job if you're not lucky.