HN user
developer
[shameless blog post promo ahead]
One simple way for minimizing junk going through automated submits. Idea without using recaptcha at all: http://ademsha.com/notes/simple-proposal-to-stop-spam-going-...
It works only with JS enabled and uses randomization in order to stop bots learning how to avoid it.
Automation is inevitable. We have now more tools that can automate different (basic) IT tasks: App Deployment, Data migration between apps, Testing, etc. I think next step is learning from data and doing more complex automations. This would also allow systems to be more proactive in a way to recognize what is important to users, discover a pattern and automate some kind of operation. Considering that, I would recommend everyone, interested in this area, to pursue data science path (data mining/machine learning). Today, seems everybody is looking for that kind of workforce. I personally know companies which listed ads for this position and haven't been filled since year ago.