

Ask HN: What keeps you up at night? - shotti

I just found this question on the application form of Techstars. I have no idea what they want to see through this question...
======
debacle
Computing is too hard. We haven't come as far in the last ten years as we
should have in terms of software, and we're hardly making good use of the
crazy advances in technology that we've seen in the last few decades. It's
still too difficult for a non-programmer to do anything useful and it's hours
and hours of menial work for a programmer to do things which he can instantly
visualize in his head, all because our devices are still relatively dumb.

Almost every programming language in use today is over fifteen years old, and
we still have to deal with stupid things like character sets and the like.
Writing a program isn't about being smart, it's about knowing a predefined set
of rules that keep the computer from puking all over the brand new carpet.

And my wife snores.

------
DanBC
Sometimes people worry about general "stuff". They can worry about this stuff
so much that they stay awake at night.

Here's an example of that type of usage:

([http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6380000/newsid_6388...](http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6380000/newsid_6388800/6388841.stm))

> _Loads of kids in the UK can't sleep at night because of worrying about the
> environment, according to a new report. Fears about global warming and its
> effects on people's health and animals are some of their biggest concerns.
> But what keeps you awake at night?_

Sometimes the usage is more specific, about the jobs that people actually
have. Here's an example of that usage:

([http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/what-keeps-you-
awake-a...](http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/what-keeps-you-awake-at-
night))

> _Moore, who deals with the rest of the astrophysics portfolio, said his
> worry is how to implement the missions called for in the 2010 NRC Decadal
> Survey for astronomy and astrophysics with NASA's existing budget, and how
> to work with the Europeans on achieving science objectives. He also is
> worried about the Gravity and Extreme Magnetism (GEMS) small Explorer
> mission that he said has technical and cost challenges. "We hope we can
> thread that needle," he said, and "be honest and straightforward about
> cost."_

There's a subtly different form of this. People identify challenging aspects
of their work, and they key important aspects of their work. These are framed
in a positive way. Here's a video of some of this type of use. Note the small
difference, the NASA quote is a bit brutal ("We have really tight budgets and
we hope we can meet budgets") while the AskTheExperts video is more
aspirational ("Progress is difficult but exciting possibilities exist").

([http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-
media/video/a...](http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-
media/video/awake-at-night-en))

~~~
shotti
Wow, they are interesting and I'm about to grasp what techstars wants to see
now!

------
mrhyperpenguin
I think the question may be asking what do you despise (you despise this thing
so much it keeps you up at night.)

~~~
shotti
I love your logic. Then, it will be this <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr-
qewC-4gY>

------
mbpp
A post by one of TechStars mentors:
[http://casnocha.com/2009/06/understanding-what-keeps-a-
perso...](http://casnocha.com/2009/06/understanding-what-keeps-a-person-up-at-
night.html)

~~~
shotti
Thanks!!

------
mooism2
Insomnia.

The urge to code.

Next door singing karaoke.

Bad colds.

~~~
shotti
Next door singing karaoke haha:)

~~~
mooism2
Product/app idea: it works out which song your neighbours are murdering, and
plays you the proper version in tune.

------
DaveChild
Fear that they'll find the bodies.

------
dschmidt11
funny post..as I sit here in class staring at my rockstar '2x the crack'. My
teacher keeps looking at me like he wants to ask me a question. I'm a non-
techie trying to launch a startup, I bet you can guess why I went to bed at
3am.

------
sidchilling
Nothing. I sleep peacefully.

~~~
shotti
So do I.

------
kaolinite
My pet cat.

~~~
shotti
Envy...I wanna have a cat.

~~~
kaolinite
I've only had him for a week. He's great but he keeps waking me up in the
night so in the morning I'm really tired :-(

