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Ask HN: What would you love to work on?
11–20 of 35 posts
Re: Ask HN: What would you love to work on?
#12If I ever had enough money, I'd love to start my own software non-profit, like the Mozilla Foundation. There's so many small bits of software that really make a difference in everyone's day-to-day life (whether you're an average Joe or a hardcore hacker) that don't ever get fully developed because there's no commercial market for them. With a few million dollars (which is enough to just work off of the interest), you could easily set up a scholarship program for talented students to do some part-time development on these projects, and it's sort of a win-win for everyone involved.
Re: Ask HN: What would you love to work on?
#13Formal methods for proving timeliness, correctness, etc. Preferably in tools that mechanically verify those properties.
Re: Ask HN: What would you love to work on?
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lot's of unit testing I'm sure :) What languages do those industries use?
There was indeed a lot of unit testing as well as very intense reviews of every single line of code. We used C and Linux as we needed an operating system that wouldn't kill people. You had to have a minimum of twenty years experience to work there. An upside was that there was no pressure at all about shipping the product before it was ready, even though we were well behind schedule. The downside was that you were al…
What tools did you use? What compiler/target architecture? Was there much turnover? What kinds of bugs got through? You can't just leave it at that.
Re: Ask HN: What would you love to work on?
#15What frustrates me most* is hardware. I'd love to be able to work in a context where I can do something about its deficiencies.
* In terms of intensity: not frequency and maybe not averaged. The idea of being able to fix the software I use makes it more bearable, even if I rarely take advantage of that.
Re: Ask HN: What would you love to work on?
#16Comic books. If I had my druthers, I would somehow be working in comic books. At some point in my life, I had a good deal of artistic talent, though the years I spent goofing off in puberty seem to have killed it entirely. It's something of a dying art form, as most print-based things are, but also seem to have resurged in many ways, especially as movie properties. I'm eagerly waiting to see whether or not TakeComics…
is there anything like cafepress or threadless for comic books? could be a really cool way to keep a dying industry going.
Re: Ask HN: What would you love to work on?
#17I'm (technically speaking) working as a PHP and Common Lisp developer for my own startup.
I'd love to do more Lisp, or in another universe, I'd love to work on engines and wish that I knew more about their design, power, efficiency...
Re: Ask HN: What would you love to work on?
#18Comic books. If I had my druthers, I would somehow be working in comic books. At some point in my life, I had a good deal of artistic talent, though the years I spent goofing off in puberty seem to have killed it entirely. It's something of a dying art form, as most print-based things are, but also seem to have resurged in many ways, especially as movie properties. I'm eagerly waiting to see whether or not TakeComics…
is there anything like cafepress or threadless for comic books? could be a really cool way to keep a dying industry going.
To my knowledge, no.
I also perhaps misspoke when I stated that comics are dying. I don't honestly know that they are, or what their current sales numbers are -- I just expect for print-related content in almost all forms to eventually die, or become more niche, which may well be naive of me.
Re: Ask HN: What would you love to work on?
#19I am working on exactly what I want.
I have worked on business systems in many companies (mostly enterprise) and learned quite a bit. But the biggest thing I learned is that companies rarely have the applications software that they really need to compete.
I am building an environment and applications that I wish I would have had all those years. This is a great opportunity to put into software all the things that could have been along with all the things that were.
It's hard not to love working on what you really want.
Re: Ask HN: What would you love to work on?
#20Incoming training manager at an expensive brothel chain.
Seriously though, seems like this question gets asked about every two weeks around here.
I love flying airplanes. From the first time I sat in a cockpit I knew that I would rather fly than anything else. But I also knew that making a career out of flying would be the worst thing in the world to do. Why? Because sooner or later it becomes a job, just like all other jobs. And when your passion becomes mundane and tiresome, you lose something. Wouldn't it be better to cultivate more things you love instead of just having one and beating it to death?
I've found that motivation comes after action, not before. That means that loving something in the abstract is usually much more fulfilling than the concrete. I've also found that once you pour yourself into something, the love will naturally come. Lots of folks wait around for some kind of epiphany when what they really need is the gumption to go out and start something.