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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?

#591

Post by K0SM0S »

neverhigh wrote: post #511
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.

At the moment many corporates are just automating the incoming invoice process. However, many processes are document (any kind of digital file) based to share information between departments, vendors or customers. Many processes could be automated. To identify a business case for automation worth coding such an application or offer an API we use three main KPI to identify processe worth automating it: - more than 10…

Thanks a lot for sharing such valuable insights!

Small payback : on your English home page under "Operation of the software" > "Information security", there's one too many sentences:

> We set the highest standards both when creating the software and when processing your data. Both when creating the software and when processing your data we set the highest standards.

(First one is better imho).

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

#592

Post by AndrewKemendo »

mcs_ wrote: post #543

Yourself. One of the most complex areas, having lots of users, that need to be fixed, is human beings. Spend all your time to know who you are, why you are like that, and change this world starting from the most promising thing it has on it: you. In the meantime, try to carry out activities that you like (ride your bike, walk alone or with real people). Do it disconnected from any device or social network. Do things…

Rebranded nihilism.

The trend of positivity focused, directionless hedonism seeking self actualization is no better than lying around drinking all day or addicted to opiates.

Find something outside yourself to be devoted to. Do the hard work to determine what that is, test and iterate.

Happiness is a side effect of a job well done, not a goal.

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

#593

Post by Myrmornis »

postsantum wrote: post #551
Myrmornis wrote: post #299

An alternative for alcohol that is as attractive from the point of view of intoxication quality but is easily and quickly reversible and has little hangover.

legalized weed?

You find that easily and quickly reversible?? :)

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

#594

Post by johnmorrison »

GhettoMaestro wrote: post #530
el_dev_hell wrote: post #518

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That all being said, if you are ambitious and talented without an all-consuming passion for software, I highly recommend you find something you can work in hardware. Since the '70s or so most industries have been basically frozen, besides computer hardware/software. Yet in the meantime materials science and engineering design has advanced considerably, both of which form the basis for innovation in new technologies…

How do we act on it, instead? (not being a dick)

General answer:

Become a specialist, or drive funding/regulatory pushes towards these new hardware technologies. Figure out what you see as the barriers to their commercialization, then figure out what component of that problem you'd love to work on, and become an expert in that.

My biased answer:

If you're in the position to spend a lot of time learning and experimenting with new stuff (e.g. a highschool or uni student), I'd recommend becoming an expert somewhere along the liquid fueled fission reactor stack. Chem eng, nuclear eng, rare earth extraction, uranium extraction, working with molten salts, working with liquid metals, anything like that.

If all goes well, I'll be needing people in just about every specialization there.

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

#595

Post by johnmorrison »

philipkglass wrote: post #563
johnmorrison wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solar panel efficiency does not have an analogue to Moore's law, and their efficiency physically cannot double two or more times. Solar cell record efficiency is 46%, that only gives room for 1.12 doublings theoretically, and thermodynamics is nasty in the real world so we probably cannot even get past 1 doubling from here.

You are correct about thermodynamic efficiency. I interpreted it to be about economic efficiency. In which case one or more doublings of kWh output from dollar input is still a stretch but plausible. Modern rooftop solar modules haven't even doubled efficiency from 40 years ago, but they have improved cost per kilowatt hour by more than 100x.

Yeah, I tend to agree with you here. The difference I see is that solar has already been heavily invested in and developed recently, so it's probably near the limit of today's material science.

My personal philosophy about technological progress is based heavily on the idea that material science is the principle barrier to what we can accomplish. That's why humanity's progress is recounted in "ages" named by material.

So, I think solar panels can get maybe 2-10x more economical, whereas other options like new hydrocarbon sources, fission, and fusion can probably all get at least 10x more economical than the maximum possible with solar, purely due to the physical limitations of the technology.

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

#596

Post by lammalamma25 »

philfrasty wrote: post #381
lammalamma25 wrote: post #358

Anything that reduces last mile shipping time. Drones route planning planning platforms, personnel allocation software, Smart fridges/locks. Big retailers are racing to <1 day shipping and buying fairly untested tools to try to get there.

Can you give an example of an untested tool you have in mind?

I'm mostly thinking of in home delivery for e-commerce. There was a company called Latch that was acquired that was more or less a smart lock for this purpose. You can see fairly regular news stories of Walmart/Amazon attempting this sort of thing. I believe amazon has some way to put items in the trunk of your car, but I don''t have a link handy.

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

#597

Post by daxfohl »

Home meal prep. I think there's an opportunity for someone to nail this, just nobody has. I'd love somewhere to create a schedule, dietary preferences, family size, and have a fresh, healthy, varied meal delivered every day, without having to think about it again.

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

#598

Post by ReD_CoDE »

ademars94 wrote: post #589
mcs_ wrote: post #543

Yourself. One of the most complex areas, having lots of users, that need to be fixed, is human beings. Spend all your time to know who you are, why you are like that, and change this world starting from the most promising thing it has on it: you. In the meantime, try to carry out activities that you like (ride your bike, walk alone or with real people). Do it disconnected from any device or social network. Do things…

How do I make money while I am doing this?

Anything in this world has a value you have to pay.

Money comes at the right time if you go the right path in your life. Don't think about money, think about the path you want to go, a path you would be happy to go and money comes in its right time

Choose "infinite" goals in your life, and follow them.

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

#599

Post by TallGuyShort »

daxfohl wrote: post #597

Home meal prep. I think there's an opportunity for someone to nail this, just nobody has. I'd love somewhere to create a schedule, dietary preferences, family size, and have a fresh, healthy, varied meal delivered every day, without having to think about it again.

What do you think is missing from current options, because an awful lot of podcasts have ads for these right now. Freshly comes to mind as a brand I would recognize, but I've definitely heard multiple services advertizing that you can customize to your schedule, number of mouths to feed, dietary preferences (common sensitivities, kosher / halal, veg*, etc.)

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

#600

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

mcs_ wrote: post #543

Yourself. One of the most complex areas, having lots of users, that need to be fixed, is human beings. Spend all your time to know who you are, why you are like that, and change this world starting from the most promising thing it has on it: you. In the meantime, try to carry out activities that you like (ride your bike, walk alone or with real people). Do it disconnected from any device or social network. Do things…

It's important.

After more than three decades in corporate life, I have "dropped out," and I'm working on doing stuff that makes me feel good.

Being happy is a lot more important to me than toys; but I have a company that provides the kinds of toys I like to play with, anyway.

I've been focusing on re-establishing my working engineering cred; mostly by creating a pretty vast portfolio of new, relevant projects. It will be the kind of thing that you won't be able to ignore.

Which will be quite important, as my gray hair causes an almost instant "write off" response.

The last couple of years have also given me great opportunity to reinvest in my own self-development.

I'm not really big on the "unplug yourself" advice. My GH ID is an almost solid green. I've been doing seven-day workweeks for a couple of years, and actually enjoying myself (and not making a dime).

Sooner or later, I'll have to slow down the hamster wheel, but I'm not there, yet. If I expect people to pay me real money for real work; I need to make sure the product (myself) is tip-top shape.

If I do that, then everything else kinda falls into place.

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