Things to do when you're a bored developer

Just a list of things you could do in your spare time that might be fun. This list is just in random order and some of these things might just be fads. A lot of these kind of overlap.

  1. Be productive, grab an idea, develop it, found a startup and sell it to make millionz.
  2. Learn a new Programming Language
  3. Read a book about one.
  4. Write a book about one.
  5. Write a blog/wiki/rss consumer or producer from scratch.
  6. Blog or wiki ideas, tutorials.
  7. Write an irc bot/client.
  8. Read an RFC.
  9. Learn web standards.
  10. Create a website.
  11. Create a cool website.
  12. Create a website that enables people.
  13. Create a website that exploits people.
  14. Create a website that enables you to make millionz^H.
  15. Figure out how to use a new framework (JavaScript, Python, PHP, etc).
  16. Make a Facebook App
  17. Make something else using an api, like Digg, Google, etc.
  18. Make something for Salesforce.com's developer framework (make millionz?)
  19. Make something using Adobe Air or Flex
  20. Add a feature/do something to your favorite open source project.
  21. Create documentation or tutorials for an open source project.
  22. Patch a bug.
  23. Report a bug.
  24. Contribute some other way to an open source project.
  25. Learn vim or emacs (you know you want to).
  26. Learn a new IDE like Eclipse or Visual Studio Express.
  27. Try out a new windows manager or linux distro.
  28. Learn ncurses.
  29. Read up on computer science class notes on Google, Blogs, etc.
  30. Try out a new http server (lighttpd, for instance).
  31. Make a tool for developers (like a color tool or a better paste bin or something original and clever)
  32. Try out a new source control tool (Like git, or others)
  33. Build your favorite open source app from source.
  34. Make (or just try a new) a Firefox extension
  35. Subscribe to a mailing list or join a Google Group for a language/developer topic that interests you.
  36. Go to a local meeting/conference on a developer oriented topic.
  37. Solve programming puzzles like Project Euler
  38. Solve a difficult programming/engineering problem to become famous.
  39. Solve a difficult programming/engineering problem to make millionz^H
  40. Work one a coder-4-hire site and make $5 per hour
  41. Help newbs on forums and get a badge.
changed September 17, 2007