How many of these personal projects do you share?

I find it that when lacking motivation at times, thinking about the incredible abount of XP and feedback that can be gained from publishing something on perlmonks is motivation enough. I mean, what XP whore wouldn't enjoy that satisfaction? ;D

The other thing to do is tell people about all the cool $h*t you're doing, and thus getting them interested. There is nothing like getting a "userbase" before you even finish the product. After I got at least an alpha version, I may relax a little bit (like you do), and revisit the project some time later, but at least I got a working prototype. Now others can help me improve it, tell me how much they like/use it, and ++ my a*$.

And think about it, any free software you develop, is an endorsment for yourself. The more and more other people use/appreciate it, the better. Any time you need a reference, you can point to something you developed, and say: "Hey, all these people like this software i've made, so that's gotta mean something, right?".

And most importantly of all, publishing your open source software, allows others to review your code, so it doesn't $$bite$$ you down the line when it really counts.

How cool would you think merlyn was if he didn't share so much?

Like WyClef says:

I got fifty Bentley's in the West Indies
(It doesn't matter)
...
Cause if you ain't sharing, people ain't caring
Come up in the hood and take everything you're wearing

people ~ that's you man

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** The Third rule of perl club is a statement of fact: pod is sexy.