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Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

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Re: Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

#81

No comment on the ethics of it, but: go to freelance sites (such as upwork), and look at what people are requesting. Lots of good (and bad) ideas are on there.

I'm not clear on the ethical problems of doing research on what problems people / companies need solving?

Re: Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

#83

The best products happen at the intersection of an existing niche you are some level of expert in already and a technology that has not yet been adopted in that niche. I've found one approach work very well with my mentees: - Figure out which "special interest groups" you are part of beyond software engineering. That can be "aquarium owner", "coffee lover", "morning person", "diligent grandson" — the less technical,…

Aquarium owner here. Thinking of IoT hardware but turns out the sensor is expensive and error/breaking prone.

Thinking to create yet another social media for people to post their aquariums and track the maintenance schedule then I realized I won't have the bandwidth (time and money) to deal with storing massive amounts of pictures, or policing the content to make sure it doesn't go down like social media dumpster fire of porn, gore, politics, religion, and other offensive materials

Re: Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

#84
Well in my opinion you should create something that helps yourself (!) - not others. Think of your all day life - some things you do pretty often and try to find a project, that really would help you. If there already is a great open source project for your purpose (and probably there is), you could try to get part of it... improve things... read code (which is a good way to get a better skillset!).

Targeting a better skillset or developing just for making money most of the time does not result in good ideas or products - but a project of personal interest will motivate you for a long time.

Personally, i created software, that i always wanted to have, but did not find something, that fitted all my needs - and it is still fun to work on it... e.g.:

  - A simple tool to transfer files
  - A tool to improve scanned document images and create a pdf 
  - A tool to convert audio files
Just my 2 cents.

Re: Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

#85
TheMask01 from here on HN posted a project they had created called https://decentdrops.com. While browsing this really great tool, I noticed the domain name EasySVG.com was available for registration.

Maybe an online tool for making SVG files from various types of image formats built on this fantastically brandable domain name?

Re: Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

#88
post #63
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you provide more specifics? Cloud based platforms for personal computing needs is something that intrigues me. I would like to understand what is it that NextCloud or other existing offerings are lacking according to you?

Sorry. When I said vms, I meant video surveillance for residential use :)

Maybe just buy synology NAS? Some cheap network cameras, there are even ones working via wifi. Not sure how good survilence station is for your needs but I could quite easily connect 2 cameras and have it running without paying more than device price and hard drive.

Re: Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

#90
I counted at least six mistakes in your question text, so I would recommend you to work on your writing skills. Luckily, writing is a universally useful skill, and almost any side project you pick should give you an opportunity to practice writing.
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