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Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

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Re: Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

#121

Post by DoreenMichele »

This was written in part to prompt people on HN to think about gig work platform ideas that actually enhance the lives of the workers:

http://writepay.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-textbroker-solution...

I've also previously talked about the fact that I live without a car in the US and when I was researching what small town to move to and using Google maps to try to figure out how to get there, if it can't give you a full solution from point A to point B, it will not tell you "There's a train that goes to X city, but that's only halfway" and it doesn't cover commuter bus routes between local cities.

I routinely went on Amtrak's site to find out how close I could get by train and then began searching for local transit options of some sort. I eventually found a solution and a city to move to and all this, but I was homeless at the time and spending all day at the library trying to figure out solutions to my problems.

As far as I know, there aren't any good apps for "How do you get there from here without a car?" for the US. Google maps does not have this problem space sorted and they seem to be the overall best solution (that I'm aware of) for finding out how you can get there from here.

Re: Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

#122

Post by lgregg »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #119
arvidkahl wrote: post #57

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,…

"teachers who work from home" (education niche) + "automated submission and pre-grading of homework" I homeschooled for a lot of years and my first blog was a homeschooling blog. I was involved with The TAG Project as part of supporting my homeschooling and I really hate this idea. "Teaching to the test" is terrible teaching. Multi-guess answers aren't good ways to test student knowledge. They are just convenient for…

Yeah, but you're making an assumption, who said it had to be multi-choice answers?

Why can't someone build a NLP model to test essays of middle schoolers or high schoolers graders on American history? You can look for learning objectives in the essay and grade upon that.

Why not build a tool with D3 or another modeling tool to teach chemistry? You could have them build compounds and then if they make a mistake, insert via a tool tip and tell them why. As they combine things, you read out what it is or test them based on the string they put in for the compound. You have to build it and name it correctly.

Re: Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

#123

Post by geocrasher »

Do something you want to do. That' sit. It doesn't need to be something that whose point is to make your skillset stronger. Just have fun, and don't back down from any challenges. Having fun is a huge part of learning, and if we're driven out of interest, it's even better. So, do what you WANT to do, and the rest will follow suit.

Re: Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

#124

Post by DoreenMichele »

Dumblydorr wrote: post #71

I don't want you to take this personally, but your post seems very low effort. How can we devote time to helping you if you only put 10 seconds into making this post without reviewing it? For one, writing skills are important. You will have a hard time selling your project to anyone on its merits if you write incomplete sentences with lackluster English. Second, you haven't taken the time to list out what your streng…

And yet it's got more than 200 votes and more than 100 comments (which is extremely good for an Ask HN). The first rule of writing is "know your audience" and he seems to have that part nailed.

Re: Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

#125

Post by vas123 »

helldritch wrote: post #6

I'm currently working on a progressive web application for support workers in care homes. I've seen through first hand experience how much paperwork there is in this setting (daily outcome charts, medicine administration records, abnormal behaviour records, dietary and fluid intake, etc) and how many clerical errors there are. I've also seen first hand the key-document-dependency there can be around service user file…

I have been working on EMR and EMAR applications for the past several years. This is a space that interests me.

If you would like to collaborate and need a programmer let me know :)

Re: Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

#126

Post by DoreenMichele »

lgregg wrote: post #122
DoreenMichele wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"teachers who work from home" (education niche) + "automated submission and pre-grading of homework" I homeschooled for a lot of years and my first blog was a homeschooling blog. I was involved with The TAG Project as part of supporting my homeschooling and I really hate this idea. "Teaching to the test" is terrible teaching. Multi-guess answers aren't good ways to test student knowledge. They are just convenient for…

Yeah, but you're making an assumption, who said it had to be multi-choice answers? Why can't someone build a NLP model to test essays of middle schoolers or high schoolers graders on American history? You can look for learning objectives in the essay and grade upon that. Why not build a tool with D3 or another modeling tool to teach chemistry? You could have them build compounds and then if they make a mistake, inser…

Why not build a tool with D3 or another modeling tool to teach chemistry? You could have them build compounds and then if they make a mistake, insert via a tool tip and tell them why. As they combine things, you read out what it is or test them based on the string they put in for the compound. You have to build it and name it correctly.

This sounds really cool and is completely unrelated to what I am saying "Please don't do."

Re: Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

#127

Post by superafroman »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #121

This was written in part to prompt people on HN to think about gig work platform ideas that actually enhance the lives of the workers: http://writepay.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-textbroker-solution... I've also previously talked about the fact that I live without a car in the US and when I was researching what small town to move to and using Google maps to try to figure out how to get there, if it can't give you a full…

My company collaborated on a project to solve this problem (currently UK only, though the tech can expand anywhere given available datasets) - http://commuter.cc/. Unfortunately it’s a very challenging problem and there is very little interest from travellers, at least not enough to create a profitable business! So unlikely we are going to expand this any further.

Re: Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

#128

Post by [deleted] »

leorio wrote: post #8

I would probably get downvoted for this.. It's very rare to find those "scratch your own itch problems", the solution to that itch is most likely a google search away. Pick a good product that you use and clone it. Keep an open mind because you can never copy the entire business since there is only so much you can see. Atleast you get some direction to start and you know that you are not trapped in building something…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

#129

Post by nabeards »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #121

This was written in part to prompt people on HN to think about gig work platform ideas that actually enhance the lives of the workers: http://writepay.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-textbroker-solution... I've also previously talked about the fact that I live without a car in the US and when I was researching what small town to move to and using Google maps to try to figure out how to get there, if it can't give you a full…

Previously mentioned to you, but Rome2Rio is pretty good at this already. Also carless here, and it’s worked wonders.

Re: Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas

#130

Post by schwartzworld »

Dumblydorr wrote: post #71

I don't want you to take this personally, but your post seems very low effort. How can we devote time to helping you if you only put 10 seconds into making this post without reviewing it? For one, writing skills are important. You will have a hard time selling your project to anyone on its merits if you write incomplete sentences with lackluster English. Second, you haven't taken the time to list out what your streng…

Actually, I think your response is really pathetic. Not everybody is good at writing, and for many, English isn't their first language.

If you don't like his question, don't answer, but finger-wagging over commas and punctuation makes you look bad.

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