Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 176 posts

Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?

#91

Post by yarper »

bronco21016 wrote: post #8
yarper wrote: post #5

If you know aviation, literally anything that will decrease fuel usage. Also maintenance & repair operations (a whole lot of dirty fingerprints going on there).

This is changing somewhat at least in the airline world. Record profits have meant these companies finally have money to spend. Combined with iPads with ubiquitous connectivity a lot is changing. The airline I work for is nearing a paperless cockpit. Flight attendants have handhelds loaded with tools for their job, credit card readers, and all of their manuals. Mechanics are joining soon with paperless aircraft logbo…

That's great to hear, been a while since I've been in the sector. As for breaking into it via a SaaS, it makes sense that they would build it themselves. Seems like operators all do the same thing but differently.

Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?

#92

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

mynegation wrote: post #47
titanomachy wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I learned programming in order to do my job more effectively while I was employed as a research assistant in a university neuroscience lab. At some point I realized that programmers in industry get paid 10x more (not an exaggeration, literally 10x) so I left after a couple years. I enjoyed my time there a lot, I was building tools to help very smart and motivated people solve cool science problems. My users sat acros…

Out of curiosity - what are the typical tools that you built? I am in industry but sometimes have a crisis of meaning. I would not be able to sit next to researches but was wondering if there is a gap in open source tools that I (or someone else) could help to cover.

There is a ton of this kind of work available. I run into various people online who need a simple automation task done, but either don't know where to start, or start and don't know how to make progress.

e.g., a month ago I made a small machine for a dental research lab that basically added a feature to a piece of test equipment. The feature was so basic and obvious, I have no idea why the equipment didn't already have it. But it was an opportunity for me to step in and make a small piece of hardware to do what they need at little cost.

A few months before that I made a GUI for a customized bit of veterinary equipment, and so on... These jobs are out there. They're quick and easy for an experienced engineer but the problem is finding them consistently. My main focus these days is trying to do just that.

Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?

#93

Post by yarper »

travisjungroth wrote: post #22
yarper wrote: post #5

If you know aviation, literally anything that will decrease fuel usage. Also maintenance & repair operations (a whole lot of dirty fingerprints going on there).

What do you mean "dirty fingerprints"? Like, literally?

It's a slang term for paperwork, it means a mechanic with dirty hands had to sign something.

Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?

#94

Post by yarper »

howardhughes wrote: post #7
yarper wrote: post #5

If you know aviation, literally anything that will decrease fuel usage. Also maintenance & repair operations (a whole lot of dirty fingerprints going on there).

> If you know aviation, literally anything that will decrease fuel usage Apart from writing full blown avionics systems for engine/flight control - what are you suggesting?

Who knows. Most carriers fly the same aircraft from the same bases on the same routes with the same regulations. It's not because I know what it is, it's just one of the few areas with any scope to be a differentiator.

Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?

#97

Post by pronouncedjerry »

jermaustin1 wrote: post #80
Ididntdothis wrote: post #11

When I was contractor I did a lot of niche apps for small businesses. I think it comes down to your ability to sell. I suck at it so not much success for me. But there is a ton of opportunity if you are willing to talk to people about their needs and then go out to sell. You won’t be the next unicorn but you can make decent money and it’s fun working with small business owners. Add: I often saved them countless hours…

Some of my very first consulting gigs were around access and excel automation with VBA. They paid well for being a 19-year-old kid still living with mom and dad. Now most of my consulting now is: - Bringing web-apps up to date (mainly by getting rid of a lot of jQuery that could just be JavaScript, or shockingly common could just be CSS) - Refactoring hard/impossible to understand 2000+ line methods (least favorite -…

I'm surprised businesses would pay for this. Usually they operate under the "if it ain't broke it, don't fix it" model. How do you position/market your services?

Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?

#98

Post by Riguad87 »

gumby wrote: post #66

Agriculture. There are plenty of companies trying to serve ag with what they think ag needs. Most of them fail. Modern farmers are spreadsheet jockeys with Ag Economics degrees. They are NOT dumb hayseeds like they are often portrayed! But they typically don’t have a lot of domain knowledge around software. Smaller farmers are used to making and fixing their own tools (all know how to weld); bigger farmers run corpor…

Crazy idea: if I wrote software that consistently increases land yield then it is conceivable that some farmer somewhere might be OK with paying me via a commission in land for my personal use? I figured that's impractical individually but for a like minded group of programmers determined to quit the urban economy and potentially springboard into more directly commercial enterprise thereafter? I'm thinking about how so many of the most talented people I know are never going to be able to accumulate capital in property or cfanyhow and sso the most naturally entrepreneurial (to my mind) segment of the economy is neutered and boy this must suit the big name publishers, but it's the potential of the experience and the reversibility of the deal, providing a financial default exit is available in need. I'm still young enough to have such ideas too romantically but old enough to be too familiar with the tax planning and politics and Land law and inherent compliance nuances (because in England Chitty,as in Chitty On Contract, if you peruse the early editions on the archive, began to document the perversity of the English land laws, which I have oft surmised as "two chicken a goat and three hens: rent bill will come again and again ; three hens, a goat and two chicken, landlord can't afford a pot to...

Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?

#99

Post by Riguad87 »

travisjungroth wrote: post #90
gumby wrote: post #66

Agriculture. There are plenty of companies trying to serve ag with what they think ag needs. Most of them fail. Modern farmers are spreadsheet jockeys with Ag Economics degrees. They are NOT dumb hayseeds like they are often portrayed! But they typically don’t have a lot of domain knowledge around software. Smaller farmers are used to making and fixing their own tools (all know how to weld); bigger farmers run corpor…

I have a little experience and a bunch of contacts in the wine industry. I’ll look into that.

I'd love to hear if there is active sampling of /terrroir/ conditions for modelling and study of the vintages.

Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?

#100

Post by gumby »

Riguad87 wrote: post #98
gumby wrote: post #66

Agriculture. There are plenty of companies trying to serve ag with what they think ag needs. Most of them fail. Modern farmers are spreadsheet jockeys with Ag Economics degrees. They are NOT dumb hayseeds like they are often portrayed! But they typically don’t have a lot of domain knowledge around software. Smaller farmers are used to making and fixing their own tools (all know how to weld); bigger farmers run corpor…

Crazy idea: if I wrote software that consistently increases land yield then it is conceivable that some farmer somewhere might be OK with paying me via a commission in land for my personal use? I figured that's impractical individually but for a like minded group of programmers determined to quit the urban economy and potentially springboard into more directly commercial enterprise thereafter? I'm thinking about how…

Regulation, particularly tax law, is the super critical tail that wags many of farmers' actions. It basically makes sense: the economics of farming, on its own, are terrible, and you'd like to have a steady diversity of farmers even if, say, the transport system shuts down (9/11? coronavirus paranoia?).*

So if your idea doesn't interlock with the existing tax code forget it. But if it can, sure.

* ag consolidation has followed the same permissive path that other industries have over the last 40 years thanks to supine antitrust regulators. And that consolidation has lead to modern sharecropping which I think is bad all around. But my point stands.

Post reply on HN