Ask HN: How do I find a project to work on?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4158309

by zaptheimpaler • 14 years ago

6 8 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I've been spending way too much time reading about tech and none actually making something recently. How do I find a project to work on? Most of the stuff thats going on in the open source space doesn't interest me, and I'd really like to just work on a little personal project. Trouble is, I just can't think of any need I have for a project I'd like to see, and its been that way for too long. Any ideas on how I can come up with something?

duiker101• 14 years ago

find something in your life that need improvement. Might be anything, seriously. Need to get faster to work? make a script to calculate the distances and an app to track the times with each routes. You like to cook but never have ideas? make something to get a random recipe from a website.

It's all about solving problems, even small problems are often important. And if you can find a problem that might effect you, be sure that in some way other people will gladly use your solution.

Also working on something that directly involves you give emphasis to the project and it's a nice moral booster.

adamtaa• 14 years ago

What duiker101 said. I built a bookmarking app when i was first starting out as a programmer because i got tired of losing mine every time i had to switch computers. This was before chrome. I have since written it over every time i learned something new. From asp.net 1.1 with datasets to asp.net mvc 3 with nhibernate 3.2, this thing has been a great continuous learning exercise. The fact that i could use some other product does not factor in to it.

pawelwentpawel• 14 years ago

My friend told my once - search for "I hate" in twitter and you will get plenty of ideas of what needs to be improved

geoffw8• 14 years ago

Smart! "Good idea". He should make a "I hate" tallier, for people in a similar situation!

onlyup• 14 years ago

"I hate going on FB"

Interesting! haha

From a quick look, most "hate" messages are about people or feelings. "Man I hate the thought of him being w/somebody else." Pretty depressing.

dholowiski• 14 years ago

Pick something, anything, it doesn't matter. Even if it's dumb, start working on it. As you get working on it, better ideas will come along. Don't be afraid to abandon your project for something better.

I'm sure you can think of _something_ - it's just that you don't think it's important enough to work on. Work on it anyway and the ideas will start flowing.

SuperChihuahua• 14 years ago

Try this idea generator: http://www.ideaoverload.com/ (including finished business ideas)

saalbar• 14 years ago

I have a different problem, I have too many ideas but none of the programming skills to realize them. If you're interested???

Ask HN: How do I find a project to work on?

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