Live data from Hacker News

Software Eats Software Development as Andreessen Invests $10M in App Outsourcer

techcrunch.com

81–90 of 123 posts

Re: Software Eats Software Development as Andreessen Invests $10M in App Outsourcer

#81
post #34

I'm afraid this is a glimpse into the not so distant future where software developers are next in line after taxi and truck drivers - uncertain if their skills will be required in a decade from now. That is compound by the millions of youngsters who grew up with computers, have unlimited access to unlimited teaching materials and are entering the workforce each year.. The demand for software may be growing (although…

One needs to move up the ladder to architecture, customer management, .... That is my feeling with the current offshoring practices. The way to stay in business in software development in any given country is to move into roles that cannot be easily offshored. There will always be a country where development costs are cheaper, when the software devs in a country start to level up their earnings, companies will move t…

What is "architecture"?

Re: Software Eats Software Development as Andreessen Invests $10M in App Outsourcer

#82

“He who forgets the past is doomed to repeat it.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_software_engine... Maybe it IS different this time around. I can see for very simple apps this might be possible. But one of the first questions that often gets asked on projects that I am on is "Is this even possible?"

If everyone followed that argument we would've missed so many interesting things, Facebook for instance.

Time can create a better context for an idea to develop. Or maybe the people attempting to implement it the nth time are not idiots or, or, or...

Re: Software Eats Software Development as Andreessen Invests $10M in App Outsourcer

#83
So, core technology is an AI system that, given a project, will automatically determine how long it will take and what sort of work will be required?

Great, I'll buy a license and tell my buddies here in New Mexico about it so we can compete with Gigster at probably 25% of whatever they're charging for apps, because New Mexico is cheap as all hell yet still remarkably beautiful. Don't tell too many of your friends, we're trying to keep it that way.

But seriously, this is nothing more than a development agency that happens to have a very cool piece of tech on hand that enables them to essentially productize development. That's cool. But eventually that same piece of tech will eventually be replicated and available to freelancers the world over, probably as a subscription-based service.

It doesn't even have to be that smart.

Re: Software Eats Software Development as Andreessen Invests $10M in App Outsourcer

#84
post #68

I think I get it. Look at their pricing: https://gigster.com/pricing Most software development shops don't ever scale past a few dozen or a few hundred developers. As a result, they don't have much project overlap. If you were able to scale to handle tons of similar projects, and be picky about which projects you take on, you could re-use 90% of the code needed for each project without ever dropping prices, essential…

I read through their terms of service and you as a developer hand all rights to your work over to them. That's normal.

But there's little mention of the rights of their client. So maybe they are trying to get a bunch of reusable ip on the backs of consulting engagements, like every consulting shop ever. But maybe doing it in a more scalable way.

Re: Software Eats Software Development as Andreessen Invests $10M in App Outsourcer

#86
> The company finds top-notch freelance developers, designers, and project managers with pedigrees from MIT, CalTech, Google, and Stripe, and only accepts 5% of applicants.

Why would such individuals be willing to work as a contractor for this company in a great enough number and at a low enough rate to make this model scalable and profitable? Something doesn't add up here.

Re: Software Eats Software Development as Andreessen Invests $10M in App Outsourcer

#88
post #68

I think I get it. Look at their pricing: https://gigster.com/pricing Most software development shops don't ever scale past a few dozen or a few hundred developers. As a result, they don't have much project overlap. If you were able to scale to handle tons of similar projects, and be picky about which projects you take on, you could re-use 90% of the code needed for each project without ever dropping prices, essential…

To me that looks like Samwer as a Service: Here's how much it will cost to clone .

Re: Software Eats Software Development as Andreessen Invests $10M in App Outsourcer

#89

As much as I want to snark in this thread as well – it's an audacious goal. When I was in school at Georgia Tech, one of my professors talked a lot about SmallTalk and Alice. Both were ways to make coding more accessible to a larger audience. I can't help but think that the future is going to continue to make development more accessible to people. I definitely think Gigster has their work cut out for them; neverthele…

Lots of tools make coding more accessible to large audience. IDE, higher-level languages, better tooling, libraries/frameworks/modules, stackoverflow.

However this didn't result in less work for the programmers, on the contrary. Same thing may apply here. Just the pressure points will change.

Re: Software Eats Software Development as Andreessen Invests $10M in App Outsourcer

#90
post #68

I think I get it. Look at their pricing: https://gigster.com/pricing Most software development shops don't ever scale past a few dozen or a few hundred developers. As a result, they don't have much project overlap. If you were able to scale to handle tons of similar projects, and be picky about which projects you take on, you could re-use 90% of the code needed for each project without ever dropping prices, essential…

Big chunk of consulting is this busines model, i.e. develop a solution and sell its integration in the vendor architecture.

Is their solution that much different?

Post reply on HN