

How to get inspiration for a cool/enjoyable programming project. - dobber

Hey HN!<p>I'v been lurking ycombinator for some time just reading posts and checking out others projects that they have submitted to the site. All of these projects have been really cool, and seems like while sometimes it may be frustrating developing them overall the experience can be pretty enjoyable. I am a college developer with experience in C++,php,ruby,python,coldfusion, and dabbling in some other things. Which leads me to my question, how do the majority of you get inspired for a personal project / startup idea? I have been looking for something to do in my spare time to enhance my skills and enjoy working with technology. I really don't want to do anything to make money, just enjoy creating something myself. Sorry if the question seems vague or out of place.
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MarinaMartin
I personally open a (yellow) phone book to a random page and brainstorm ways
to make that particular industry more efficient. But then again I'm an
efficiency consultant.

I'd peruse idea/complaint websites and see if one idea tickles your fancy:

<http://www.sixmonthmba.com/2009/02/999ideas.html> <http://www.whynot.net/>
<http://www.quirky.com/> <http://logolalia.com/ideafactory/>
<http://mybiggestcomplaint.com/> <http://www.ilovetocomplain.com/>

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lfborjas
I actually get ideas like this: do something -be it work, browse the
internerd, learn music, etc- and if the little developer voice in my head says
"oh man, this sucks, we can do it better" or "oh, this could be automated!" or
"oh man, THIS. IS. RAD. I wanna do it too!" then there I have my idea. I think
everybody, at least people that are accustomed to creative work, like coding,
get tons of those moments everyday; listen to them, write them down, your own
everyday life is the inspiration :)

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dobber
Thanks for those suggestions :) I'm sure I'll find something I enjoy

