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Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on?

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Re: Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on?

#261

Post by peterangular »

derefr wrote: post #82
peterangular wrote: post #38

I work in this field so I'm incredibly biased: automated business solutions that cut entry-level data employees out of the equation. You save TONS on the bottom line, and cut out human-driven process that is error prone and difficult to manage. I'm talking about things beyond "API-driven dev", more in the realms of Puppeteer, Microsoft Office automation, screen-scraping (mouse/keyboard), etc. I make API's out of thin…

Is there a possibility of ...automating, this kind of automating? I understand that, like regular application programming, a lot of this kind of automation comes down to requirements-gathering and formal specification of workflow. But, in theory, could there be some kind of sufficiently-advanced software wizard that does most of your job? Maybe by monitoring entry-level employees' interactions with the software-to-be…

> Is there a possibility of ...automating, this kind of automating?

Nah - I'm going to be cocky for a second so please take this with a grain of salt... Automation is the only job that's safe from automation ;)

That being said, it's prime for development of tools... I've been working on taking a lot of my workflow out of Charles Proxy and moving it onto a more "man-in-the middle" model that can replay certain web traffic... PARTS of what I do, but automating the automating is probably the most difficult problem that I've had to solve (ie: building my own tools).

Re: Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on?

#262

Post by [deleted] »

maxhallinan wrote: post #42
peterangular wrote: post #38

I work in this field so I'm incredibly biased: automated business solutions that cut entry-level data employees out of the equation. You save TONS on the bottom line, and cut out human-driven process that is error prone and difficult to manage. I'm talking about things beyond "API-driven dev", more in the realms of Puppeteer, Microsoft Office automation, screen-scraping (mouse/keyboard), etc. I make API's out of thin…

How do you find processes that can be automated? I've often thought that there must be a ton of this stuff in various industries where programmers aren't typically embedded.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on?

#263

Post by rwmurrayVT »

tito wrote: post #53

Climate change will create the first trillionaire. Find everything that eats fossil fuels and electrify it. Find everything that requires stable land and predictable weather and put it in a shipping container. Find every infrastructure investment that requires decades to pay off and decentralize it. Instead of water line pipes, pull water out of the air. Instead of copper and fiber optic cables on telephone poles, us…

That AirMiners site takes 30 seconds to load.

Re: Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on?

#264

Post by brendanmc6 »

jnsaff2 wrote: post #125

The climate emergency has pushed me hard into quite a few areas that have a lot of promise for huge impact, to name a few: - electromobility: concerting bikes, kick-scooters, cars ... this all is much easier than it seems, also has a vibrant open source culture - demand response in electricity grids has quite a few startups (one of which I just joined) that help integrating a lot of renewables in a way that does not…

I studied sustainability related topics for my Bachelor's and Master's degrees, but transitioned to full-time software development. Now I've promised myself I'll try to work exclusively for companies doing something climate positive. I must admit the intersection of sustainability and TypeScript is more narrow than I'd like! Let me know which companies you find.

There are some great, mission driven urban and smart-city related companies-- Swiftly, Sidewalk Labs, Remix. The whole mobility SaaS scene like Ioki (my employer), Via, door2door. Some cool unique projects like Doconomy.

But unfortunately for me the most impactful companies will have a much more specific niche than just "sustainability", and often are more in science and engineering than software. Like the ones you've pointed out, or lab grown meat and meat substitutes, renewable energy, geospatial tech, manufacturing, etc.

So I try take this extra motivation and energy and throw it at side projects: getting https://offsetra.com off the ground, and trying to find people to use my mapping tool for citizen science and civic engagement https://canvis.app

While there isn't a lot to be optimistic about in the grand sense, we can at least feel a bit optimistic in the career sense-- sustainability and climate are more hot than ever these days (no pun intended).

Re: Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on?

#265

Post by slowrabbit »

starpilot wrote: post #203
maxhallinan wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you find processes that can be automated? I've often thought that there must be a ton of this stuff in various industries where programmers aren't typically embedded.

Very common when you do tech work in a non-tech industry. Comes up a lot with coding-inclined mechanical engineers. Zed Shaw's words are really true: > Programming as a profession is only moderately interesting. It can be a good job, but you could make about the same money and be happier running a fast food joint. You're much better off using code as your secret weapon in another profession. People who can code in th…

Same money running a fast food joint? You're underpaid bro or you know some crazy overpaid fast food managers. People from science based fields are coming to computer science because those other fields lack job opportunities at competitive pay.

Re: Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on?

#266

Post by ghaff »

SimbaOnSteroids wrote: post #246
ghaff wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the big wildcards for widespread consumer use is the social aspect. We can envision what AR might look like in everyday life. What's far less clear to me is the degree to which people will accept AR glasses that are constantly using video and audio to deliver information to the wearer will be accepted. If I know that person I just met has inconspicuously scanned me and looked up all kinds of information that a…

I think AR almost has to be Apple, not from a tech perspective, but from "this tech is very creepy, invasive, and visibly so" angle. Apple may be the only company that is simultaneously big enough to make the tech happen and charismatic enough to get us to let down our guard to it. Although that latter one is rapidly diminishing.

That's an interesting angle. Though I'm not sure to what degree the average consumer draws this distinction between Apple and Google.

Apple also probably just has about as much brand permission as anyone to create a new category of consumer device and shepherd it through the first couple of versions that will doubtless have shortcomings.

Re: Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on?

#267

Post by atonse »

hectorr1 wrote: post #80

Usable cryptography. iPhone-level UX for private key management. People care about privacy, and more are willing to pay for it. There is a massive opportunity for direct monetization through cryptocurrency users, and the things you could build when this problem is solved...

I'd argue that WhatsApp and Signal have already accomplished this, for messaging, communications, and file transfers.

Re: Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on?

#268

Post by dr_ »

jl2718 wrote: post #114

I see a huge trend coming in “DIY Medicine”. Doctors, insurers, and the FDA are way too expensive for mere gatekeeping, and technology is developing new treatments and dropping equipment costs an order of magnitude faster than they can respond. For example, I can buy all of the equipment necessary for a PRP injection for less than the cost of a single treatment, and the doctor that does it knows no more about how to…

"Doctors know that the price of the most effective treatments may not sustain their profession."

This is not really a fair assessment. The most cost effective treatments can be self administered. But if you are coming in to see me because of persistent knee pain, more often that not you have already tried tylenol and over the counter nsaids (ibuprofen, etc.), and your pain has been persistent. The next set of treatment options, aside from maybe some physical therapy, are more expensive, because they involve using drugs that are more expensive or treatment measures that are more expensive. With re: PRP, it is not covered by insurance, since the benefits of it over a placebo are still not entirely clear. Many doctors offer it however, and to insure accuracy of needle placement, they usually perform it under ultrasound guidance- not something most people would be able to do on their own, at least not yet. As more and more physicians offer it, and if it remains uncovered, market forces will drive the prices down (like Lasik), although I'm doubtful PRP is considered an effective treatment option in the future.

I don't disagree with the notion that healthcare remains quite expensive in general. I see telemedicine, for certain conditions, reducing costs and maybe Direct Primary Care - bundling care into one package instead of serving it piecemeal could be a good way to go forward.

Re: Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on?

#269

Post by Havoc »

tabtab wrote: post #78
tito wrote: post #53

Climate change will create the first trillionaire. Find everything that eats fossil fuels and electrify it. Find everything that requires stable land and predictable weather and put it in a shipping container. Find every infrastructure investment that requires decades to pay off and decentralize it. Instead of water line pipes, pull water out of the air. Instead of copper and fiber optic cables on telephone poles, us…

Siberia will be the next California ;-)

I shall patent a automatic mozzie zapper

Re: Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on?

#270

Post by peterangular »

ctack wrote: post #185
peterangular wrote: post #38

I work in this field so I'm incredibly biased: automated business solutions that cut entry-level data employees out of the equation. You save TONS on the bottom line, and cut out human-driven process that is error prone and difficult to manage. I'm talking about things beyond "API-driven dev", more in the realms of Puppeteer, Microsoft Office automation, screen-scraping (mouse/keyboard), etc. I make API's out of thin…

Once you create an api or solution, are you able to resell it to other businesses or or do you create once off solutions?

Both - but I'm more tooled to solve one-off situations. I have been able to do the whole "copy-paste" resell a few times which has been financially lucrative!

My GitLab is my toolbox in so many ways and I've got a wealth of clean/documented code that I can re-purpose depending on the task at hand.

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