

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

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?
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dholowiski
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.

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

~~~
onlyup
"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.

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adamtaa
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.

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duiker101
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.

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

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

