All the projects I didn't finish, and why it was worth it

Over a decade of working with Scala, I've started some projects that never quite took off. Nevertheless, they were learning experiences - whether it was something to do with native code, SQL, binary encodings or higher-kinded data - that have taught me invaluable skills that I could use in other contexts (and not just conference talks!).

In this talk, I'll share the stories of 3 of these projects, what they've taught me, and how I now approach side projects in a healthy, sustainable way. And who knows, maybe you'll get in spired to try something crazy with Scala too?

Transcript

1. All the projects I didn't finish and why it was worth it Jakub Kozłowski | Scalar Conf 2025
2. 10 years with Scala
4. ?
5. This talk is for you!
6. Why I'm here today Stories of past projects What I learned My new approach to side projects
7. Why I'm here today Stories of past projects What I learned My new approach to side projects
8. Why I'm here today Stories of past projects What I learned My new approach to side projects
9. Project stories
10. Flawless
11. Main idea you control the execution
14. Path-dependent types in Flawless
16. Higher-kinded fixpoint types
19. Flawless - takeaways
20. Precise control == more complexity
22. Auto-discovery isn't that bad
23. Custom entrypoint == less tooling support
24. Quick lesson in pragmatism
25. Killing a project is OK
26. Advent of Code videos (2021)
29. Day 1
30. Days 2-9
31. Days 10-13
33. AoC isn't daily programming
36. AoC videos - takeaways
37. Knowing when to stop
38. Talk about your ups and downs
39. Smithy Transcoder
43. Smithy Transcoder - takeaways
44. Having goals is nice
45. Finishing things is nice
46. My new framework for side projects
47. Side note: it's just vibes
48. I do it for myself
49. I can't do it all
51. One thing at a time
52. Celebrate completion
53. Embrace failure
55. I define the goal
56. Resources Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals*: Flawless: Flawless talk: AoC videos: Smithy Transcoder: https://a.co/d/fMCB1Ac https://github.com/kubukoz/flawless https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9nv3dfYfw4 https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=AhcDxzjrUUI&list=PL1NS3pe5mmu006cN9LjcLA9aBJlZZCzJ1 https://kubukoz.github.io/smithy-transcoder/
57. Thank you Get in touch X / Mastodon / GitHub / YouTube / Slides: https://linktr.ee/kubukoz