As some of you know, I've been working at a local factory for the past 1 1/2 years. Once I was no longer able to live off the income from this site, I had to get a job fast and this place was the quickest solution. I know a lot of people had been confused as to why I would get a factory job rather than an office job and there's a few reasons for that:
1. I've got social anxiety really bad and I knew a few people who worked there and I've worked there before so it was an easier transition for me mentally. You also gotta figure that I had been working from home for 7+ years so that definitely made my social skills worst.
2. All of the programmer positions are in the cities which would be an annoying drive, the factory is only 6 minutes away which is great considering my wife and I have only 1 vehicle which makes it easy for me to run home in case of an emergency with her or the kids.
3. I've got wrist and shoulder issues which can get painful if I'm on the computer too much. If I was doing a job that involved a computer and then also working on the site, that'd probably be too much strain (at it was really bad at the time).
4. The place offers a 12 hour per a day weekend shift which allows me to work on the website during the week. It's easier to have a few full days to work on the site instead of a few hours after work, especially since I'd be too lazy after work to do anything.
5. At the time, my confidence was really shaken and I wasn't so sure what I would be capable of doing or motivated to do for a job in programming.

Anyways, working a job that doesn't involve much thinking results into me over thinking everything else (which can be good and bad). I'm constantly finding ways to do my factory job faster and more efficiently and one of the things I've noticed that is very inefficient at my job is the way that things are logged. Basically all of the tasks (aka jobs) that employees work on are either documented on paper or in an excel sheet. So over the course of a few weeks, I had been proposing the idea of developing an internal web app where the employees logged what they do and this would make logging quicker and would also allow upper management to easily track stuff. I eventually got a response from someone who took interest and saw my vision but they wanted to see a working example and didn't want to just hear ideas.

So that's what I've been working on for the past month; putting together a web app for the factory I work at. Once I land the project, I no longer would have to work on it at home and I would instead be paid to be working on it at work. This will open up a lot of opportunities for me at the factory and I'll most likely know if I did or not by the end of this week. I've already met with the guy who would oversee the project and I had shown him what I had so far and he loved it but just had to get approval from 1 other person before I can work on it at work. I'd still be doing my regular CNC Drill Operator job there but I'd also be working on the web app for some of that time as well.

Here's how me landing this project benefits Vizzed:
1. It could potentially give me more flexible hours which would help me be more organized and potentially get more sleep.
2. If there's ever an increase in pay, it would allow my wife to quit. She recently got a job there as well since things have continued to get worst financially which has left me in charge of watching the kids during the week while she works 2nd shift and me having to take care of the kids has taken away a lot of my time (both mentally and physically) from Vizzed.
3. A potential increase in pay could also eventually mean I could invest a little bit of money into Vizzed again.
4. Improvement to overall mood. Working a dead end job with no future, no end, no goal, doing the same thing every day, is depressing, especially if it's mindless.
5. Some of the features I make for it I can also use for Vizzed. For example, I'm currently working on a "Suggestions" page where employees can request feature ideas, report issues, etc. That page I plan to also re-use for Vizzed. The app is coded with a similar architecture as Vizzed so migrating stuff wouldn't be too hard.
6. Working on it also helps me maintain my skills and potentially increases them. It can also give me new ideas and visions for Vizzed.


Anyways, that's what I've been busy with for the past month or so but it should come to an end at the end of this week and I'll be able to continue my new direction with Vizzed. All of this kinda came out of nowhere and was unexpected but I just wanted to reassure you all that I still plan to continue with what I promised 2 months ago

That sounds great, man!

I can totally see why you chose a factory job. I've also been secluded at home studying online for years, and it has made me even more of a shut-in and lone wolf than I already was, which I'm starting to notice now that I'm attending more presential courses. I'm slowly but steadily getting accustomed, but getting out of the "bubble" is a tough step to take, so better take it easy.

I can also relate to what you mention about landing this project improving your overall mood. Suddenly opening up a path in front of you can be re-energizing to a point you almost never thought possible. I've experienced that a few times in my life (yep, way more than once), so I'm sure you'll feel fully "alive" again in no time.

It will be interesting to see if you can migrate anything from that app onto Vizzed. After all, you never know when or where might the inspiration come for a great idea. I hope you do land this and start to get your life upwards again after a very tough time.

EX Palen : Yeah you lose some social skills when you work from home for too long and mine probably were already not the greatest. Going to work when you have a future filled with opportunities gives you a sense of hope and that makes going to work far more bearable. A lot of people are content with doing the same thing at their job and working that same job for their entire life, which is great, but that's just not me.

One of the things I value most, far more than money, is time, and I like to be efficient with it and not waste it doing something that doesn't utilize my skills or what I'm capable of.

This is neat hopefully they green light your idea and it leads to better opportunities at work. I honestly don't like working for others because you are always limited in what you can do and earn in terms of salary. If you are your own boss then there really are no limits but it is more stressful and difficult in the process.

I also think you took right path in not getting a programming job in some big city far away. It would just make things more difficult for you and you'd be so exhausted from it you might end up getting sick of it and won't have any more fun working on Vizzed. I recently got worn out with programming and took several months off from it. I was too depressed to do anything. Now I am slowly getting back into it and back to working on my sites.

I'm the exact opposite of you though I got all the time in the world but very little income from benefits. One day I hope I can turn what I am good at into money. It sucks knowing you are good at something and feel like it is going to waste you know? It just sucks! I hate the feeling.

JigSaw : I completely agree, I hate working for clients, you lose your creative freedom and you have no say in much of anything. In this situation though, since it's a factory, I'm one of the few people (possibly only people) who has the skills to work on this so there's not as much pressure and so far with the prototype, I've been able to do what I want with it. Also getting this project could potentially mean I can make up my own hours which would be amazing.

Programming requires a person to get into the proper state of mind. If you're unable to get into that state of mind, then you're not going to accomplish much. I think it's common for programmers to go through a mental road block where they just can't do it or have no motivation and therefore need a break from it.

I know exactly what you mean though. I got to a point where I needed to change directions in what I'm doing for a living soon so that I didn't start to lose the skills that I've developed over the past 10+ years. Would be depressing to wake up for a factory job 20 years from now with no ability to program anymore lol.

I do value time more than money now that I don't have time. I've never really cared much about money because it doesn't take much of it to make me happy, the things I find joy in are things that don't cost much (if anything). I just need to make enough to get by and definitely enough to where I don't have to work as much.