Ask HN: What are the cool life hacks for Developer?

Build a machine that prints money.

Find a problem that regular business computer users are solving with some combination of raw effort and a spreadsheet to keep track. Write an app that accomplishes the same thing, but better, and in a mostly automated fashion, and charge them monthly for access to your tool.

It's a lot of work upfront, but the gains you make each month compound. Most of the customers you sign up this month will still be customers next month and you don't have to resell them. Instead you focus on selling new customers, who themselves will be around the month after that. Eventually, the amount of money the machine prints each month is greater than the effort you're putting into it each month, and you've freed yourself from exchanging time for money.

In terms of life hacks that are particularly attainable for developers specifically, I think starting a SaaS is near the top.

Use Beeminder , a commitment device with a sting. Make a commitment, and give them a price (in USD) for failing to meet that commitment. They take your money if you don't do what you said you'd do. They have APIs for many services such as RescueTime and TagTime, and an Android app.

Note: If you're the kind of smart person who always finds a way out of doing the things you claim to care about, then if these two tools don't get you to do those things, you'll at least think deeply about, and know if you really cared about them.

You either get value (success in the things you care about), or information (learn what you don't care about, that you thought you cared about). Then you can use the value of that information to reorder your preferences in an optimal way.