Oversharing on the internet

Today, I feel brave for making an announcement about two projects of mine. They’re both in their very very early stages. One is literally only a design document and an empty rust project as of writing this.

Most people won’t launch a product until it is flawless. What I’m doing right now feels like really strange behavior.

Pretend you’re my therapist rq ig.

Does this section count as low-key trauma dumping? Am I over sharing on the internet?

Part of my brain is protective. It tells me I shouldn’t be giving away my “secret sauce” like this. That these ideas are too good. And I’m too unknown and inexperienced. Any large company can swoop in and steal these ideas, throw infinite money at them, and build them faster than me. No one would bat an eye.

The other side of my brain is full of doubt. I’m too young and inexperienced. My idea might not be as good as I hope. I probably sound really cringy writing this blog post, and the meta commentary isn’t helping either. Neither is the meta commentary about the meta commentary.

Another part is fearless. No one will see this anyway! I’ve got nothing to lose! Shoot your shot! You never know where you’ll end up. Maybe this blog post blows up, and some billionaire adopts me as their idea machine. Then I become rich, and can work on my dumb ideas all day long.

Reality is somewhere in the middle

First of all, I gotta practice what I preach. I really do believe in building in public. I wrote a whole blog post about it.

I’m launching these projects not even close to finished. I’ve spent way too much time waiting for perfection, and it cost me real opportunities. My portfolio is empty and doesn’t match my skills at all. I believe I’m a very talented engineer, but I’ve done nothing to prove it yet.

I believe in my ideas. I think they’re fantastic, and fantastic ideas are worth sharing. I don’t have a great track record of releasing anything I work on, and I’d feel a huge loss for not at least putting something out there.

I’ll go a step further. I’m gonna try to implement these ideas myself. Anyone is free to help out and give feedback. But if you think you can make my ideas but better and faster - put me out of business (not that there’s much to put out anyway).

Every day it feels more and more like people are just hogging ideas. And it puts a sour taste in my mouth. Society should strive to make improvements without putting one person over others. The “credit” you get from it doesn’t really matter that much.

So here’s my message - share your ideas. Even if someone ends up stealing them, society still wins.