Ask HN: What is the most impactful thing you've built?

Hey Simon, thanks for creating Django with Adrian. I was deeply interested in programming from a young age but learning Django in my teens sparked a passion for web development that has yet to feign so many years later! Appreciate all your contributions to this space.

I've been lucky in lots of ways on what I have ended up working on. I've worked across the sectors but ultimately working on government services has been the most rewarding, which is far removed from being the most enjoyable.

The most difficult but ultimately rewarding was a system that performed checks on people who wanted to work with children or vulnerable adults. I ended up having ultimate responsibility for this being successful which whilst now I can look back on with some pride, I wouldn't attempt again.

Before that I'd rewritten exam appeal systems and been a key developer in the UKs first online student loan offering. I still meet people 20 years on that have to browse my code when reworking those systems/codebase.

Working for banks pays the bills, and I never do subpar work but not something I look back with fondness on, even though I did my share.

My first job out of college I worked for an international telecommunications company.

The first big project I worked on was to develop a call detail record (CDR) search tool.

This tool was used to help locate a missing family who had been lost in the Nevada wilderness for more than 48 hours: https://www.cnn.com/2013/12/11/us/nevada-family-found-alive/...

I took couple years off coding to build a Kenyan infrastructure engineering firm - we're still going although I've started programming again. The biggest thing we've done is 6.7km of a mountain / lakeside ring road in Homa Bay on Lake Victoria (Kodula village section specifically, the work is visible on satellite). We're actually not completely done with it but watching the community growth from having the paved road reaching completion and improving the accessibility was absolutely incredible. Extremely frustrating sector to work in and difficult to pay yourself a salary even when it's not charity, but sometimes the rewards are awesome. I have a physics background so doing civil / electrical / mechanical stuff is tractable for me beyond programming, then we use the classic PM tooling to make things run ~relatively better than most people doing stuff out there. All Kenyan engineers other than me, lots of smart people who are highly motivated to meet and work with.

Moving atoms must be 6x10^23 more satisfying than slinging electrons. Kudos to making the leap to building infrastructure for the community.

May I ask what made you take the leap?