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Ask HN: What has been your most rewarding job or project and why?

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Re: Ask HN: What has been your most rewarding job or project and why?

#151

Post by clemlais »

oddlyaromatic wrote: post #145
clemlais wrote: post #138

Sadly just my blog at https://blog.claisne.io . It's not much but seeing users visiting on google analytics is quite rewarding !

Wow I like your blog! The landing page is really nice. I did, though, get very distracted by the text-shadow on the headings and links. It makes me feel like I have something on my glasses or something. Everything else looks beautiful to me and the projects look awesome.

Thanks for the kind words. Makes me want to write another entry. I'm sorry for the text-shadow, I tend to overuse them! The code is available here https://github.com/claisne/claisne.io if any of you is interested.

Re: Ask HN: What has been your most rewarding job or project and why?

#152

Post by calummurray »

nomy99 wrote: post #103
calummurray wrote: post #100

I've been working for almost 4 years on the on-board flight software for the European Space Agency's Mars Rover to look for signs of water and life on Mars: "ExoMars". It is due to be launched in 2020. Due to the embedded real-time, mission-critical aspect of the software, the strictness of the process and focus on documentation can be frustrating. The space industry typically doesn't keep pace with new technologies,…

I wonder what your functional tests are like? Do you do dry runs of the robot on mars like surface?

Yes, to test mobility (locomotion and navigation) we have a prototype model that we operate in an environment as close to the Mars surface as possible (representative sand, slopes and rocks etc.)

Re: Ask HN: What has been your most rewarding job or project and why?

#155

Post by Jemmeh »

Liquix wrote: post #2

Not quite startup or hobby project material, but some of the most gratifying work is making non-critical, easy to implement changes in your business's workflow! Sometimes users will have minor (or major) issues with the way a tool works - database takes 30 seconds to retrieve a certain type of information, there's no clear path from point A to point B in a frequently used business tool, certain jobs take 2x as long a…

I too love fixing things where I can see the person's reaction. It is so satisfying. We are so often removed from the user and don't get that joy. I think as a dev it's a good exercise too, to stay grounded and avoid feature creep or working on things that don't matter too much. I always to try -think- about how my user will be reacting, but that's different than actually -seeing- it.

I think it's part of why I like UX(though I do full stack), at the end of the day I like solving problems for people and making software that's pleasant to use. I've seen so many people struggle with an unnecessarily complex interface and it hurts my soul. The relief on people's faces when they can fix their issue quickly is so satisfying.

Re: Ask HN: What has been your most rewarding job or project and why?

#156

Post by jjeaff »

scarecrowbob wrote: post #136

Raising my son. Playing music with my friends. Building a home and relationships with my partners. Building my body and mind through long term studies of various branches of philosophical and intellectual inquiry. Caring for specific peoples' specific needs. That all might sound hippy-dippy or unrealistic, but because of the history of our economy we tend to value only monetarily compensated public labor as "work", w…

I am similar. But I actually derive a lot of satisfaction from the saas project i created and work on because of the things that the money will help me do.

I do enjoy providing a product that helps make users lives and businesses simpler. But everytime a new customer signs up, I chalk that up as more time for my family, more money for travel with them, more money for a retirement income, more money for our dream home. It's exciting!

Re: Ask HN: What has been your most rewarding job or project and why?

#157

Post by calummurray »

nlh wrote: post #101
calummurray wrote: post #100

I've been working for almost 4 years on the on-board flight software for the European Space Agency's Mars Rover to look for signs of water and life on Mars: "ExoMars". It is due to be launched in 2020. Due to the embedded real-time, mission-critical aspect of the software, the strictness of the process and focus on documentation can be frustrating. The space industry typically doesn't keep pace with new technologies,…

That is so deeply awesome. Can you tell us a bit more detail about the systems and how they work? C? Assembly?

We have a little bit of assembly for processor-specific startup housekeeping, but that's mostly reused with small modifications for different boards. The rest of the code base is entirely C, managing functions such as ground communications, mobility (locomotion, navigation and control), thermal management, power management, fault detection and recovery, payload (e.g. science instrument) management and mission planning.

We need 100% branch code coverage at unit test level, and have function validation tests written in Java that validate the software against the requirements, running on simulated hardware. Similar tests are run against simulators with progressively more hardware-in-the-loop for more confidence.

Re: Ask HN: What has been your most rewarding job or project and why?

#158

Post by mediocrejoker »

calummurray wrote: post #100

I've been working for almost 4 years on the on-board flight software for the European Space Agency's Mars Rover to look for signs of water and life on Mars: "ExoMars". It is due to be launched in 2020. Due to the embedded real-time, mission-critical aspect of the software, the strictness of the process and focus on documentation can be frustrating. The space industry typically doesn't keep pace with new technologies,…

This sounds like my dream job.

Re: Ask HN: What has been your most rewarding job or project and why?

#159

Post by tabtab »

Liquix wrote: post #2

Not quite startup or hobby project material, but some of the most gratifying work is making non-critical, easy to implement changes in your business's workflow! Sometimes users will have minor (or major) issues with the way a tool works - database takes 30 seconds to retrieve a certain type of information, there's no clear path from point A to point B in a frequently used business tool, certain jobs take 2x as long a…

Similarly, I find making life easier for regular workers quite satisfying. When they say, "Oh, this gizmo or change makes my job/task sooo much easier and reliable than the last process. Thank You!", I gleam for months. It's better than a raise to me. One accounting clerk was so happy she baked my favorite cookies for me.

Too many focus on kissing up to the big-wigs, which works to get them more money and status, but I feel I make a real impact by helping the rank and file.

Re: Ask HN: What has been your most rewarding job or project and why?

#160

Post by evanagon »

Professionally: We designed and built a program that keeps patients with congestive heart failure out of the hospital. We had a ton of autonomy and figured out how to get old, sick people to do new things every day. Then we built an online tool for nurses to track their patients. This ended up reducing days spent in the hospital and saved a ton of lives.

I’ll never go back to a less impactful job.

Personally: Working through a brutal custody battle that lasted for years and cost as much as a college education. Never wavered from what I thought was best for my kid, never attacked the other party, and ended up with an imperfect but fair agreement. Kid is doing great.

Going through something this difficult ended up being the major inflection point of my life.

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