
Ask HN: What is your job role and what are the side projects you are working on? - aryamaan
The question in itself is self-explanatory. Please mention your normal day job role (backend developer, full stack engineer etc) and what are the side projects you are doing currently.<p>This question is about having insight about what people are doing.
======
japhyr
I teach high school math and science.

I've been writing in the mornings and late at night, and I just finished an
intro Python book:
[http://nostarchpress.com/pythoncrashcourse](http://nostarchpress.com/pythoncrashcourse)
It will be out next month, and I'm very happy to focus on supporting the book
now that the writing is finished. I love writing at the introductory level,
where the focus is half on technical issues and half on helping people learn
to think as a developer.

Writing a book has significantly increased the degree of professionalism I
bring to my side projects. My school district just adopted a new learning
management system, but there's no functionality included for generating report
cards, so I'm working on a project that automates the process of generating
report cards. The software is relatively easy and enjoyable to write, but the
politics involved in making sure this work is implemented correctly into the
overall district processes is challenging. Having worked through all the
details involved in publishing a book helps me identify and work through the
many non-technical issues involved in fully implementing a side project.

------
sjs382
In my day job, I'm a full-stack developer at an ad agency.

Side Projects:

Early next week, I'm going to be releasing an Android word game.

Revenue-producing side-projects:
[https://SendToMyCloud.com](https://SendToMyCloud.com) &
[https://PrivateForms.com](https://PrivateForms.com)

Other side projects: [http://artpacks.org](http://artpacks.org),
[http://aboutbrowser.com](http://aboutbrowser.com) &
[http://norefer.link](http://norefer.link)

~~~
dhca78
Your revenue-producing side-projects are strangely inspiring. If you don't
mind me asking, how do you market them?

~~~
sjs382
Mostly, I don't.

In the beginning (for each) I found a few people asking on forums for software
that solves the exact problem that these products solved, and then posted the
software as a solution.

Since the first few weeks, I haven't done any marketing at all—everything
comes in via search, or referral traffic.

~~~
dhca78
That's cool! Thank you for sharing.

------
rfc
I'm a product manager. Side project is building a genome data ingestion
pipeline with my dad. We're both really passionate about giving people a
faster and cheaper solution to processing genome data.

Current project is to allow researchers to send fully sequenced genomes to our
server, align the sequenced genome to a referenced genome, then store the data
in a performant way that can be queried against. Right now, its either too
technical for the researchers or too expensive. I have dreams of making it
something big but time is a limited resource as well as finding people who A)
know how to build massive data platforms at scale and B) know enough about
genomics to build the platform.

We're coming along well so far. The alignment of sequenced genomes to
referenced genomes if done (although not scale ready yet). Currently working
on/learning the data storage side and what to do there.

Shameless plug: if anyones interested in our project, we could use some help.

~~~
noname123
Out of curiosity, what genome assembler are you using for your project? (I'm
having to build a genome assembly pipeline with a reference assembly as well
for a bioinformatics class I'm auditing at a local college, not a professional
in this field either). The papers I am reading and trying to replicate uses
SMALT.

~~~
rfc
Assuming you're referring to the alignment side of things. We use a variation
the Bowtie2 algorithm that allows us to align multiple genomes at once to the
same reference genome.

~~~
noname123
Thanks for your reply, rfc. In my Bioinformatics class, we went through Bowtie
algorithm funny enough last week (the vague details I still remember are the
funny way it compresses fragments as rotations and then goes onto transform
the rotations). Gl on your project.

------
ksmithbaylor
I'm a Software Engineer at my company. I used to work on a large Rails
project, but now I am on a team where we are building out a smaller product
with a React/Flux frontend. I work mainly on frontend stuff right now.

I have a small side project for a family member. He's a commercial beekeeper
and needed a way to track information about his hives, so I am making him a
mobile app (built with Ionic) that lets him put QR codes on the hives and
track everything he needs about them.

My wife and I just had our first baby, and I'm starting Georgia Tech's OMSCS
program in the Spring, so I don't have much spare time right now. But off and
on I have been learning Clojure/ClojureScript, Haskell, and more about React
and its ecosystem. I also am teaching an introductory JavaScript class for a
local tech "bootcamp" company, and enjoying it a lot.

------
atmosx
My day-job role is pharmacist. Although 'Pharmacy Manager' is a more
accurate[1] description of what I do. I also work as remote sys-admin for a
couple of US-based startups. Add to that I'm studying for my final MDPharm
exam(!).

My side-projects are argosnap[2] and on a RoR application which came out of
the need for an application to manage/keep track of customers credit and I'm
planning to make a SaaS out of it.

[1] I micro and macro-manage our family pharmacy. I also work on the bench. I
have 5+ years of managerial experience in the secondary sector (~ 150 ppl
business) and I assure you that the amount of managerial work required by a
medium-sized pharmacy in Greece is astonishing.

[2] [http://www.convalesco.org/argosnap/](http://www.convalesco.org/argosnap/)
\- a tarsnap notification utility.

------
thecolorblue
Javascript developer, mostly doing front end work and some node server side
and for build scripts. Side projects (I've been trying to cut these down) are:
1) helping my brother with marketing a food catering business, 2) developing
my product management skills 3) building a local food e-commerce site.

Before you say it, yes, I have a problem focusing.

------
Hockenbrizzle
Great question. I'm excited to see the other responses.

I'm a visiting scientist at a nuclear physics institute, but my degree was in
mechanical engineering. Currently working on creating highly charged isotopes
to be used for cancer research.

Last year I built a single seat off-roading buggy with some friends, which was
a really rewarding, and fun project.

Current side project is learning to work with some RPI's to make a mesh
network that I could use for my sound system. Also, since we can't be on
computers all of the time, learning to play guitar and training for a
triathlon.

~~~
japhyr
Do you have a picture of the buggy you built? Spending a lot of time in front
of a computer makes me want to build physical things. I have no experience
welding, and I'm always impressed with what people can build out of metal.

~~~
Hockenbrizzle
Certainly do!

[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LTl1dfiFXXo/U4etdcKdRTI/AAAAAAAAAx...](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LTl1dfiFXXo/U4etdcKdRTI/AAAAAAAAAxM/jpn-
MWrjiF4/s1600/IMG_0066.JPG)

[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/\--6qOASg5xts/U4exjAZ4TEI/AAAAAAAAAx...](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--6qOASg5xts/U4exjAZ4TEI/AAAAAAAAAx0/XD3mu2-kXFs/s1600/IMG_20140518_203452436_HDR.jpg)

[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4c8DArPQnO4/U4etHJaRrmI/AAAAAAAAAx...](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4c8DArPQnO4/U4etHJaRrmI/AAAAAAAAAxE/uwnmzRsGfvw/s1600/IMG_0006.jpg)

I did about half of the welding on the buggy and I actually learned how to
weld while we were building it. YouTube videos were enormously helpful and
welding is really fun.

Technically this was for my university, but we raised funds for it without
their help and built it not out of requirement, but out of interest.

~~~
japhyr
That looks fun, and it looks like a test of your confidence in your own
skills!

------
kgen
Software engineer, and my side projects involve helping people learn things
interactively: RegexOne: [http://regexone.com](http://regexone.com) SQLBolt:
[http://sqlbolt.com](http://sqlbolt.com)

~~~
dhca78
Wow that's cool! I hope you keep up the good work. SQL and Regex are great
topics too for these types of websites.

------
ItsChucky
I work for a small map tech company and my job role is basically a graduate C#
developer, with some configuration duties also to cater our product to
different customers. I didn't know C#, only Java, before starting the job so
it's been nice to learn about concepts like WPF and Linq this past year.

I do some freelance work for a small business owner in which I code small Java
apps that hook to the eBay and Amazon APIs, for the benefit of his business.
It makes me a little money but I've recently asked for a pay rise.

Other than that, I want to make my own mobile apps using tools like Xamarin
but I haven't really built up the confidence in myself to create any of my
ideas. They mostly seem like things that have been done before or where I
don't see that they might get as much use as the idea does in my head.

On top of that, I enjoy my free time. I find it very hard to come home and
have the energy to code after my 9 to 5 where I've been doing the same thing,
staring at a screen, 7 and a half hours. Instead, I try to exercise a fair bit
and build hobbies outside of programming. I'm a bit of an everythingist,
admittedly, though it's not a quality I think leads to becoming a master in
programming.

Has anyone else faced similar problems to me? What is your answer to your own
question, OP?

~~~
werber
I have the same thing with coming home from work and just being done with
screens. What's worked for me is coding for 1-3 hours before work, and
treating one weekend day as a normal workday but for myself.

~~~
ItsChucky
I've sort of tried the second one and usually do get a bit done at weekends. I
like the first one though, I'll try that too. It's all a question of whether I
can get up that early!

------
rohitksh
My day job is of a full stack developer

Side Projects:

jquery-fade-slider -
[http://jqueryfadeslider.com](http://jqueryfadeslider.com)

A jQuery plugin to add fade effect to your slider items

Google Drive Browser - [http://rohit-sharma.in/Google-Drive-
Browser](http://rohit-sharma.in/Google-Drive-Browser)

A mini-app which lets you get the list of files from your drive which are
modified most recently

Places App - [http://places.rohit-sharma.in](http://places.rohit-sharma.in)

A foursquare like application

isbndbjs - [http://rohit-sharma.in/isbndbjs](http://rohit-sharma.in/isbndbjs)

An SDK for retrieving data from ISBNDB

http-requestor - [http://rohit-sharma.in/http-requestor](http://rohit-
sharma.in/http-requestor)

A Wrapper around Net/HTTP which allows you to perform HTTP Requests

rails-gsa - [http://rohit-sharma.in/rails-gsa](http://rohit-sharma.in/rails-
gsa)

Integrate GSA(Google Search Appliance) with your rails application

------
bakztfuture
\-- Day Job--

I'm a student at the University of Guelph ... Not quite a day job but
definitely keeps me busy!

\-- Side Project --

Helping to organize business information around startups at
[http://www.StartupTimelines.org/](http://www.StartupTimelines.org/)

\-- Shameless Plug --

If you're interested in contributing/helping out gimme a shout Bakz at
bakzdesign.com

------
rafaqueque
Backend engineer at Sherpany ([https://sherpany.com](https://sherpany.com))
and my side project is called numbers.today
([https://numbers.today](https://numbers.today)), a quantified-self platform.

------
Airspectral
I'm a Mechanical Design Engineer in normal day job and I conceive
spectrometers for LULI laboratory. The side projects I'm currently doing is my
Startup Air Spectral
([http://www.airspectral.com](http://www.airspectral.com)), where I'm
developping a miniature hyperspectrale camera. I'm doing currently another
project where I'm not the leader. It consist on builting a new motor concept
based on the cogeneration principle. In parallele of my Mechanical education,
I learnt programming and lead with my friend during a moment the project
lylconcepts ([http://lylconcepts.com/](http://lylconcepts.com/))

------
Veratyr
I'm a software engineer working on internal business tools.

My current side project is evaluating academically published demosaic
algorithms for camera sensors by implementing them with Halide (halide-
lang.org) and running them against my personal photos.

I'm mainly aiming to learn about how camera sensors actually work and what the
image processing pipeline looks like between a bunch of RGGB pixels and a
JPEG. I'm hoping to build my own pipeline but I may also contribute my
implementations to RawTherapee, if the papers' authors permit.

Learning Halide is also fun. It's amazing how fast a computer runs when you
use optimised code.

------
nodivbyzero
I'm Software Engineer at game company. I work on rendering stuff now.

My current side project is events aggregator written in golang:
[http://www.wonderweek.ca](http://www.wonderweek.ca)

------
haidrali
My Job is "Full Stack Web Developer" at Void Labs and In my side project I am
currently doing PollPK.com, A website which let user publish polls and other
user can vote on those polls ( just like Reddit user can post links and other
can comment ) Here is my early beta
[http://beta.pollpk.com/](http://beta.pollpk.com/) example polls would be like
anything e.g. Who is the top football in the world ( Ronaldo, Messi etc ) Who
is the current best actor ( Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio etc )

------
orless
On may day job, I'm a senior software architect for the Deutsche Bahn (German
Railways).

On my free time, I work on a number of open-source projects (see
[https://github.com/highsource](https://github.com/highsource)). For instance:

* [https://github.com/highsource/maven-jaxb2-plugin](https://github.com/highsource/maven-jaxb2-plugin) \- probably the most advanced Maven plugin for JAXB

* [https://github.com/highsource/jsonix](https://github.com/highsource/jsonix) \- Powerful XML<->JS mapping library in pure JS

* [https://github.com/highsource/jsonix-schema-compiler](https://github.com/highsource/jsonix-schema-compiler) \- XML Schema->Jsonix mappings compiler, also XML Schema->JSON Schema converter

* [https://github.com/highsource/jaxb2-basics](https://github.com/highsource/jaxb2-basics) \- a set of plugin for JAXB (like equals/hashCode/toString generation and more)

* [https://github.com/highsource/ogc-schemas](https://github.com/highsource/ogc-schemas) \- compiled GIS XML Schemas

And a few more.

------
werber
My job title is just Developer, but I work primarily in a front end capacity
and currently I'm working on a passion project, a cross platform mobile app
that I'm transitioning from Ionic to native, a Swift project that's a pretty
simple voice note recorder that starts recording when you open the app, and a
teaching/building project with a friends art collective, slowly building it
while teaching them how to code each part.

------
at-fates-hands
My day job: front-end developer, which means different things to different
people. Mainly do JS work right now with Angular JS on a large enterprise
transactional application.

My side project: Working to create an agency that helps a specific niche
business. We already have close to a dozen clients on a monthly subscription
that are generating a good chunk of revenue. A few more clients and I can
forgo my current contracting gigs and do it full time.

------
anonx
Full stack Software-Engineer. Side project is a Toolkit for high productivity
web-development in Go language built around the concept of code generation
[1]. I'm using it for another side project (online start-up incubator
platform).

[1]: [https://github.com/colegion/goal](https://github.com/colegion/goal)

------
kethinov
Job role: I'm the manager and lead dev of a team working on a number of
military software projects for the US Air Force.

Side projects: I've been tinkering with new approaches for doing MVC and
templating in JS. See my projects on GitHub:
[https://github.com/kethinov](https://github.com/kethinov)

------
adam-_-
My day job is a backend developer for a job startup.

For the past few years I've been on and off working on a side project to
create meetup for cyclists: [http://cowbellhq.com](http://cowbellhq.com).

A few years is too long but I find it very hard to focus dedicated time to the
project outside of work, friends and hobbies.

------
jneumann004
Right now, I am primarily a front end web developer.

I always have a lot of different projects running around in my head. I have
two big ones right now. The first is a React Native app integrating with a
Buddypress site. The second that I am working on is a plugin that integrates a
popular API with Buddypress that I am going to post on CodeCanyon.

------
someotheridiot
I'm a dba but do a lot of automation and build self service websites for
internal use.

My side project is [http://rebrickable.com](http://rebrickable.com) which will
calculate what LEGO sets and custom fan creations you can build by reusing
your existing collection of sets and loose parts.

------
soared
Intern! I split my time between school (business) and work (digital marketing
agency).

My side project is a Windows 10 Smart Mirror. Its got voice commands, drag and
drop UI, lots of cool stuff. Its open source too!
[http://innate.cc](http://innate.cc)

Its very interesting reading these responses..

------
oldfatslow
I don't have a title, we are a pretty small company. I manage the systems,
networks and our virtual environment. On the side I enjoy projects that don't
include a keyboard or mouse like fixing old mopeds and dirtbikes. I'm
currently restoring a 1996 Tomos Sprint moped I had when I was a kid.

------
mamcx
Working solo for [http://elmalabarista.com](http://elmalabarista.com) (iOS,
Web apps: obj-c, python, html+js+css, .net, sql backends (severals) all at the
same time!) and providing consulting, for 9 years now!

My side project is build a kind of alternative to MS Acces + Excel + Terminal,
or a resurrection of a data centric development environment like Visual FoxPro
was. Yep, this sound brutally complex. That is way I'm doing this slowly, and
think very hard in what to do, how and why.

Building a relational language first (ie: Exploring how better could be
instead of stick to just use python or F#... also fun).

Most likely this will end as a custom DSL + also use python/f# just because
reinvent everything is impossible with just me a few resources ;)

------
kingcorleone
Software developer for Canadian government; Currently trying to finish reading
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Foster_Wallace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Foster_Wallace)

------
iisbum
Full stack developer by day, Full stack hacker by night :)

My most recent side projects are
[http://whenactive.com](http://whenactive.com) and
[http://creatorslog.com](http://creatorslog.com)

------
krn320
I’m a game programmer working on mobile games for iOS and Android, using
mostly Unity game engine.

As a side project I’m also making a game (how surprising!), but I can’t share
any details in case someone steals the idea and makes even better game out of
it ;)

------
joellovera
Javascript Developer

Side projects:

[http://magicplaylist.co/](http://magicplaylist.co/)

[https://github.com/loverajoel/spotify-
sdk](https://github.com/loverajoel/spotify-sdk)

------
JoeAltmaier
I'm an OS/embedded programmer contracting to companies across the USA.
Currently porting android to a panel controller for some industrial equipment
(I honestly don't know what; it hardly matters).

My side projects are gaming-related.

~~~
aryamaan
You develop games?

~~~
JoeAltmaier
I proctor a game lab with young folks (Jr High to Collage and now a few grads)
every Wednesday night. We've got 4 card/board games under our belts. The
current on - "Hobo Hoedown" \- is amazing, getting good focus group feedback
and nearly ready to publish.

------
louden
I am a data scientist. I am working on two side projects.

The first project is a cloud based power/sample size calculator as a
competitor to PASS.

The second project is a statistical distribution visualization website with
API to generate random values.

------
christopheraue
Self-employed Magento Developer

Side Project: Tool to save window positions and opened files to restore them
anytime later: [http://getcapp.com/](http://getcapp.com/)

------
eecks
I'm a software engineer using java, xml, plsql, oracle db, javascript,
html/css.

I am about to start a side project in java and have one just started in python
with flask. I want to start using reactjs too.

------
tmaly
I build software for legal and compliance in the financial industry. On the
side I am working on a mobile food site that takes a different approach on
finding food to try at restaurants near by.

------
chrisrickard
I am Director at Melbourne Software consultancy inoutput.

My side project is a cross platform code generation tool, think Yeoman mixed
with a pretty UML editor mixed with an AppStore... well, oneday!

------
nicbou
Current job: front end developer for a well-known mapping product (no, not
that one), although my contract ends in a month.

Side projects: [http://markdownnotes.com](http://markdownnotes.com), and many,
many others. I also write picture-rich articles about history:
[http://en.nicolasbouliane.com/blog/the-berlin-
airlift](http://en.nicolasbouliane.com/blog/the-berlin-airlift)

------
lsiunsuex
day job - full stack developer for a local company that develops worksheets
for k-8 teachers

side job - full stack developer for a website that provides continued
education for dental students and dentists

I'll generally take the random freelance job that comes around, both remote or
local - building a Wordpress website for a local plumbing company this week.

If those 3 aren't consuming all of my time, I've been planning an idea for a
programmers network, but i haven't had much free time lately :(

------
rubicon33
\-- Day Job--

Senior Software Engineer (currently iOS).

\-- Side Project --

I'm building a web betting platform, for E-Sports! My goal is to provide THE
BEST option, available internationally, for betting on E-Sport games. It's a
really exciting project that I've been working on for 2 years. I'm using
AngularJS, and WebSockets to create a 'real-time' user experience on the
client side.

\-- Shameless Plug --

If you're interested in Co-Founding, I'm interested in talking to you.

~~~
xyn_
I'm a full stack engineer and would love to hear some more details. Shoot me a
message, my email is in my bio.

------
pdpi
Nominally software engineer, doing Devops but moving to a backend position. My
main side project right now is building a software synthesiser in Rust

------
Killswitch
Day Job: Kind of hard to describe, my title says VP of Engineering, but I work
for a screen printing and embroidering shop, but I don't work on anything in
the company, I was hired as the first and only employee to build a SaaS to
help printing shops manage their business, and we'll be dogfooding of course.

Side projects: I have a few, mainly I am building a Heroku competitor using
Docker.

~~~
wanghq
Check [http://convox.com](http://convox.com) if you haven't.

Discussion from HN:
[http://www.hackertoolbox.com/tools/395](http://www.hackertoolbox.com/tools/395)

~~~
Killswitch
Nice link, but I'm doing stuff a little different and attempting to tackle a
different problem along with it.

------
sheraz
CTO by day (apps and search)

[http://helloaviva.com](http://helloaviva.com) \- By night I work on a niche
app for city-parents to find changing tables, nursing rooms, and play areas

[http://www.3cosystem.com](http://www.3cosystem.com) \- where I map out all
the tech and startup events for 60+ cities world-wide

------
crisopolis
I'm a Business Analyst and I manage a horrid Talent Management system made by
Taleo :-/

Side Project:

\- Pinellas911.co - Civilian 911 CAD

\- Talent Performance System - Coding the backend (big dreams?)

\---[https://medium.com/@chriscombs/beginning-of-a-side-
project-p...](https://medium.com/@chriscombs/beginning-of-a-side-project-
part-1-4b993a8daa9c)

------
rgoomar
I work as a software engineer

Primary side project: [http://meteorweekly.com](http://meteorweekly.com)

------
sideproject
I'm a software engineer at a health-focused startup by the day.

I run two sites

[http://hellobox.co](http://hellobox.co) \- tool to create and run your own
communities (e.g. like HN)
[http://sideprojectors.com](http://sideprojectors.com) \- market place to sell
& buy side projects

------
smartera
Market research / analytics director by day.

Building a niche end-to-end encrypted storage/communication web app by night.

------
garysieling
Software developer; Working on a tool to do faceted search across google docs
/ dropbox / onedrive

------
karaokeyoga
day job: front-end and full-stack developer for various clients

side projects: [http://lcd.al/](http://lcd.al/),
[http://realkana.com/](http://realkana.com/), and iOS game development

------
Delmania
Software developer, focusing on web service and application development.

Side projects, a few gigs on Upwork.

------
codegeek
job: bootstrapped product business

projects: Building a Single Page App. Backend API development in Laravel
framework, Angular on the front end. Learning devops, deployments. Using
Digitalocean API to auto create environments and setup new client accounts.

------
drakonka
Day job: Build Engineer in games Side project: browser based snail simulation.

------
heynickc
Day job: Software Engineer (.NET) for a manufacturing company working on
custom line of business apps.

Side Projects: A blog where I tackle topics that junior/mid-level software
engineers might like to learn more about.

------
Esox
Web Developer; building (or trying to) a roguelike in my spare time.

