Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? • Hacker News Board

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

#201

Post by nwsm » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 5:48 PM UTC

peterangular wrote: post #38

I work in this field so I'm incredibly biased: automated business solutions that cut entry-level data employees out of the equation. You save TONS on the bottom line, and cut out human-driven process that is error prone and difficult to manage. I'm talking about things beyond "API-driven dev", more in the realms of Puppeteer, Microsoft Office automation, screen-scraping (mouse/keyboard), etc. I make API's out of thin…

Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Examples are UI Path and Blue Prism.

It's finicky technology that is hard to make sustainable, but a lot of companies are really interested in it because of the amount of work that could be cut out like you said.

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

#202

Post by jiveturkey » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 5:49 PM UTC

windsurfer wrote: post #97

mathewsanders wrote: post #22

I think AR has potential to be the most impactful new type of technology, but I don’t have any idea if wide adoption is 1 year away, or 10 years away (or more). At the moment most of the focus is around overlaying some virtual world in the real world, but I think that technologies like U1 chip being added to new Apple devices could be really interesting to allow objects in the physical world to better mesh with digit…

It's a fun tech, but I fail to see any real world value that can be derived from it. I have worked on AR stuff before and found some niche uses, but I am having real trouble finding general commercial applications apart from fun and games.

define "niche".

the construction industry will benefit hugely from AR.

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

#203

Post by starpilot » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 5:49 PM UTC

maxhallinan wrote: post #42

peterangular wrote: post #38

I work in this field so I'm incredibly biased: automated business solutions that cut entry-level data employees out of the equation. You save TONS on the bottom line, and cut out human-driven process that is error prone and difficult to manage. I'm talking about things beyond "API-driven dev", more in the realms of Puppeteer, Microsoft Office automation, screen-scraping (mouse/keyboard), etc. I make API's out of thin…

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.

Very common when you do tech work in a non-tech industry. Comes up a lot with coding-inclined mechanical engineers. Zed Shaw's words are really true:

> Programming as a profession is only moderately interesting. It can be a good job, but you could make about the same money and be happier running a fast food joint. You're much better off using code as your secret weapon in another profession. People who can code in the world of technology companies are a dime a dozen and get no respect. People who can code in biology, medicine, government, sociology, physics, history, and mathematics are respected and can do amazing things to advance those disciplines.

https://learnpythonthehardway.org/python3/advice.html

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

#204

Post by siriniok » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 5:50 PM UTC

There is an organisation 80000hours.org devoted to discovering careers related to future high-impact areas, it has a list of perspective career paths and reviews on them, including the obvious ones, like Machine Learning PhD, and not so obvious, like China specialist.

https://80000hours.org/career-reviews/

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

#205

Post by jiveturkey » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 5:51 PM UTC

tsmarsh wrote: post #145

Democratising manufacturing. CAD / CAM is still hard. CAM especially. You have to know a great deal about materials and tools, even order of operations to help the computer build efficient tool paths. There is a lot of scope for process improvement and there are commercial opportunities to sell to job shops who would like have their engineers working more on CAD and less on CAM. There is also potential here to make i…

this will never happen.

your example isn't very good. you still have to ship the raw materials and -- much worse -- deal with unit volumes of waste.

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

#206

Post by yodsanklai » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 5:52 PM UTC

tito wrote: post #151

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really see that happening. Most of the things you've suggested would require large amounts on energy to produce. I don't see energy getting cheaper over the next 50-100 years. It seems to me that climate change and reduced dependency on fossil fuels we lead to reduced globalization and population reduction.

The cost of energy will go near zero. The marginal cost of an electron captured with solar is free. Solar is starting to beat fossil fuel installations already, below $0.05 USD per kWh. This was not predicted even by the biggest cheerleaders even 10 years ago: "In 2017, the solar industry achieved SunShot’s original 2020 cost target of $0.06 per kilowatt-hour for utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar power three year…

> Solar is starting to beat fossil fuel installations already, below $0.05 USD per kWh.

I read that over and over, but it's like comparing apples and oranges.

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

#207

Post by Arubis » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 5:52 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #140

dlivingston wrote: post #18

I have a hunch that the Next Big Thing (TM) will be augmented reality: though the technology is currently in its infancy, when compelling AR glasses are finally released (Apple is rumored to be released theirs in 2020) I think that it will have a massive impact. AR frameworks are a dime a dozen, but if you're an Apple person look into ARKit + Swift.

One of the big wildcards for widespread consumer use is the social aspect. We can envision what AR might look like in everyday life. What's far less clear to me is the degree to which people will accept AR glasses that are constantly using video and audio to deliver information to the wearer will be accepted. If I know that person I just met has inconspicuously scanned me and looked up all kinds of information that a…

A little tangential, but I hope the answer to this is a resounding "no", and that adoption is sufficient to make a lot of people really uncomfortable. Perhaps this is naive of me, but I still believe that a great contributor to tolerance of our society for massive dragnet surveillance is that it isn't very visible.

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

#208

Post by auiya » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 5:54 PM UTC

windsurfer wrote: post #93

dlivingston wrote: post #18

I have a hunch that the Next Big Thing (TM) will be augmented reality: though the technology is currently in its infancy, when compelling AR glasses are finally released (Apple is rumored to be released theirs in 2020) I think that it will have a massive impact. AR frameworks are a dime a dozen, but if you're an Apple person look into ARKit + Swift.

What value does augmented reality add to anything?

Ask the porn industry in 1-2 years.

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

#209

Post by tunesmith » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 5:55 PM UTC

One general theme I think is getting more and more apparent is the phenomenon of large systems breaking down.

One of the side effects of globalization and the internet is that it becomes more and more apparent over time when there are opportunities for asymmetric impact. And there will always be bad actors that look to take advantage of that.

This is partly because we as consumers get used to the abuses and start accepting them. Back in the 90s, the onset of email spam was something that caused a lot of indignance and active outrage. Banner ads were a huge deal, too.

But a lot of it is just from the bad actors getting more sophisticated. Including state actors that are invested in causing the breakdown of democratic norms in other countries.

So I think there will continue to be opportunity in the decentralization realm. Tools for various forms of self-governance. That could mean publishing (activitypub), hosting (ipfs), or even actual governance (decision-making and voluntary policy compliance among groups).

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

#210

Post by charliemil4 » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 5:55 PM UTC

peterangular wrote: post #38

I work in this field so I'm incredibly biased: automated business solutions that cut entry-level data employees out of the equation. You save TONS on the bottom line, and cut out human-driven process that is error prone and difficult to manage. I'm talking about things beyond "API-driven dev", more in the realms of Puppeteer, Microsoft Office automation, screen-scraping (mouse/keyboard), etc. I make API's out of thin…

Any advice for companies getting into this realm, specifically around making sure you get your 'valued' price?

Charging for value can sometimes feel exorbitant... i.e. saving a $100+/hr person ~20 hours a month. Sure I can calculate out it on an excel sheet the customer ROI, but still feels crazy.