Make something that matters.

A free class dedicated to the art of side projects








The side project has become a popular vehicle for developing real-world skills and a personal portfolio. This course pulls apart the process of turning an idea into a successful side project that can be shared with the world. Taught by a trio of instructors who have written software and essays impacting thousands of people, the topics include:

While the class will focus on technology-based projects, the topics are non-technical and don’t require CS experience. The lectures are designed to be modular in nature, offering students the chance to attend every session or just those they find most interesting.

Syllabus
(Click for Lecture Materials)

  1. (04/01) Welcome: Why Study Side Projects
  2. (04/01) Getting Started: Who, What, When
  3. (04/08) Technology: Choices & Considerations
  4. (04/15) Launch: Strategies & Hacks
  5. (04/22) Open Source: Starting & Contributing
  6. (04/29) War Stories

Instructors

Shubhro Saha
@shubroski
Shubhro is a co-creator of Jasper, the leading open source platform for developing voice applications. He writes frequently about technology and develops side projects covering a variety of areas from productivity to network security.
Charlie Marsh
@crm416
Charlie is also a co-creator of Jasper, as well as the creator of several other side projects, the most recent being the Bitcoin Script Playground. His blog posts on JavaScript and other web technologies can often be found on the front page of Hacker News. At school, his research focuses on computational linguistics and language understanding.
Dan Kang
@dskang
DK loves building side projects and has created over a dozen, most of which have failed spectacularly. His most recent project is Campus Anonymous, a platform for Ivy League students to chat anonymously one-on-one; his most popular is Web Timer, a Chrome extension with over 50,000 users that keeps track of how you spend your time online; and his most eccentric is Creep, a service that shows you whatever site he’s browsing at the time.