Play and Work

There are different coding practices I like to cultivate, depending on whether I'm working or playing.

When I'm working, trying to hey things done as part of a company or to meet the needs of someone whom I've told I would help, people depend on me and there's a more strict timeframe.

When I'm playing, working on fun side projects or just learning new things for fun, no one is depending on the final project and it doesn't need to get finished in a specific timeframe.

The differences manifest themselves in a couple different ways:
1. Complications and Unfamiliarity.
If I'm working and I gey stuck on a complicated problem or am working in an area I'm unfamiliar with, I should be more ready to ask for help or turn the task over to someone more knowledgeable so it can get done in a more timely fashion with higher quality code.
If I'm playing and I run into a complicated problem or an area I'm unfamiliar with, I can stick myself. I can spend time in exploration, discovery, playing with different angles and see what different inputs result in different outputs.

2. Picking Tasks
When I'm working, and trying to decide which task to take on next, I need to decide based on which task will add the most value. I need to consider my own expertise compared to my co-workers to see if I should take it or leave it to someone else. I need to consider how quickly I can get it done, compared to other valuable tasks.
If I'm at play, I can just consider what I most want to do. I'm mostly trying to learn at this point, so it's good to pick something that will engage my intellect. I'll learn better that way. Also, it's good to pick things that are just important to know about.

3. Code Quality
When working, I should pay attention to the quality of my code in every area. Everything I do needs to be done the right way because there's nothing superfluous in a production environment. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing it the right way.
When I'm playing, it's good to code well, just for the practice of it, but there's no immediate danger if that doesn't happen. I don't need to concern myself with good security or performance or dependability unless that's what I'm practicing. I just need enough of a scaffolding up to work on the piece I want to be working on.