

Don’t overlook the real problems out there - clintjhill
http://clint-hill.com/2009/01/02/so-you-made-your-website-in-5-hours-nobody-cares/

======
pwim
So you wrote a blog post titled "You made your site in 5 hours - nobody
cares".

Nobody _should_ care.

I was doing my usual reading this morning and I started to recognize a
pattern. Not just this morning, but a pattern that has been occurring over the
last year or more.

It goes like this:

    
    
      * Blogger sees a link to some app on [Reddit,Digg,Hacker News]
      * Blogger thinks the app is stupid and insignificant
      * Blogger takes the time to write a rant about it
    

I understand why this happens. I have done it myself. Bloggers do this because
there are posts out there that have been made in just minutes or hours that
turned out to generate a huge number of page views. The allure is tremendous.

Here is the part that gets me: _There are so many bigger problems out there to
blog about._

~~~
clintjhill
So what you're saying is that while I'm blogging about education and
healthcare software problems, I haven't chosen big enough problems?

------
mechanical_fish
Beginners like to have fun, and it is a good and healthy thing that they do
so.

It's not their fault that social news systems are broken [1] and tend to vote
their fun beginner projects up to the front page where they waste your
precious time.

If you're going to rant about this problem, try to rant at the systems that
are at fault: Digg, Reddit, and perhaps even Hacker News. Don't pick on the
people who are doing silly practice projects. Everyone needs to do silly
practice projects some of the time. We are all beginners at least once. In
software, we are beginners _much_ of the time.

\---

[1] In this writer's opinion, not in mine. I don't think these particular
headlines on HN are a big problem. I even appreciate the utility of the "built
in _x_ hours" headline format: It's truth in advertising. I know what I'm
going to see on the other end of such a link, and I can avoid it if I like.

~~~
clintjhill
Actually I wasn't blaming the social news systems at all. In fact I only
mentioned them as examples of where I see these links most often.

I still contend a beginner practice project can be built around some of these
bigger problems. Why not?

~~~
mechanical_fish
_I still contend a beginner practice project can be built around some of these
bigger problems. Why not?_

The _essential_ quality of a beginner practice project is that it is
_guaranteed_ to be finished quickly. There are many reasons for this.

It's important to get the positive feedback -- the warm glow that comes from a
_finished_ thing. Otherwise you just become frustrated and sad and you'll quit
instead of sticking around long enough to stop being a beginner.

It's important to test the full stack -- you want to practice the stuff that
happens near the end of a project as well as the stuff at the beginning. Often
it's only when you try to launch the "finished" product that you discover the
terrible flaws in your original design. Often, the features of the new tool or
technique that you're trying to learn will only make sense after you've
experienced _every_ part of the design cycle.

As a beginner, you are _really underqualified to choose an appropriate
project_. You have no idea how good you are. You have no idea how hard the
hard problems are, or why. Best to make sure that your badly-chosen project is
a short and sweet one.

Having said all of that: Of course it might be possible to put beginners to
work on tiny, solveable, easily-shipped pieces of these larger problems.
That's what a teacher's job is. Why don't you write out a set of suggested
projects and suggest them to some beginners?

~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
Two other things to consider: 1) if it's not something you or someone close to
you needs or wants, then it won't be a very good beginner project because you
will be lacking that immediate positive feedback you spoke of. 2) the bigger
problems may be more "useful" but these apps are being submitted to other
developers for approval. Most devs won't know that you just solved a major
problem in healthcare and will just shrug. If you submit it to a healthcare
blog "i did this in one day!" You'll immediately start getting _negative_
feedback from a bunch of non-techies who (as they should) are looking at its
usability, not the core technology you implemented.

To throw out an idea: two of my "pet projects" that I have yet to work on are
a basic inventory system for small manufacturers and a basic job
quoting/scheduling system for manufacturers/job shops. Technologically they're
both easy and it shouldn't be hard to find people to present them to (despite
what so many online think, the US is full of small manufacturing businesses).
Unfortunately, neither of them is "fun" so don't make good beginner projects.

------
pg
I think it's interesting to see what people can do in a fixed amount of time.

Submitting such a project doesn't mean that's all someone is doing with their
life. In fact, it _necessarily_ doesn't mean that.

------
gamble
Trivial problems are easy to solve - real problems are _hard_. Speaking as a
veteran of health care and education, the challenges in these fields are
primarily bureaucratic and political, not technical. You would be crazy to
jump into either field without an understanding of the domain or preexisting
relationships with potential customers. In my experience, startup-minded folks
rarely have the experience beyond software itself necessary to build a
business in another field.

