How do you choose which project ideas to pursue?

Question

I'm sure most of us had to at some point choose between several personal projects to take on. Maybe a new technology to learn, a build in the physical world, or some code/product/service for other people to use. When you have more ideas than time, how do you choose which one to pursue?What makes you more curious about one technology over another?Which considerations go into crafting something by yourself?How do you evaluate how useful something you could create would be to others?

kstenerud · Accepted Answer

For me it comes down to a personal itch, which is usually along the lines of "What do you mean, I can't do XYZ???" or "I can't believe this isn't a thing!" or "The current implementations are terrible!" or "I don't believe it when everyone says it's impossible"
I do put in effort to make things useful to other people, and take their ideas to heart to widen the userbase, but ultimately it must be useful to me as well.
I judge its usefulness by the volume of support requests coming in ;-)

itqwertz · Answer

Money and personal growth.In fact, contract work is a great avenue to pursue your dreams. By choosing your work, you can learn valuable skills for your own project. Being exposed to different corporate departments and income streams can spark your own ideas.If you get in the habit of devoting time to personal projects, you will see where your values lie and pursue that. Not everyone can live the startup lifestyle.