
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.
This question is about having insight about what people are doing.
======
ehartsuyker
I was hired as a Data Engineer for my skills in Scala, AWS, and other data
technologies. I ended up falling into Backend Engineer (also Scala) as our
core services needed significant support. From there, I drifted into
Operations as our infra and deployment processes were negatively impacting QOS
and the time from code-to-prod.

In my spare time I:

    
    
      - made a shitty personal website[0] for kicks
    
      - maintain an npm package[1]
    
      - contribute to SecureDrop[2]
    
      - run the not-yet-live BerlinLeaks[3]
    
    

[0] - [https://heartsucker.com](https://heartsucker.com)

[1] - [https://github.com/ehartsuyker/node-
deb](https://github.com/ehartsuyker/node-deb)

[2] -
[https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop](https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop)

[3] - [https://berlinleaks.com](https://berlinleaks.com)

~~~
aryamaan
I see. Your site is shitty and good simultaneously. berlinLeaks is a nice idea
but I don't see any posts on it.

~~~
ehartsuyker
Thanks.

There's nothing there because setting up SecureDrop is a pain in the ass.
These (among others) are errors I hit while trying to get it running:

[https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/1244](https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/1244)

[https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/1247](https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/1247)

[https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/1251](https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/1251)

[https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/1252](https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/1252)

------
KevinUK
I'm a full stack web developer and I created
[https://www.quirkycushion.com](https://www.quirkycushion.com) last week. If
it gains any traction then I plan on setting up sister sites for other
products.

I read the book [http://www.startupbook.net/](http://www.startupbook.net/)
which says to pick a niche which is why I will have several sites each
focusing on one product rather than one site with multiple categories.

~~~
aryamaan
How is [http://www.startupbook.net/](http://www.startupbook.net/) book?

------
joeguilmette
I'm the team lead for WP All Import and WP All Export:
[http://www.wpallimport.com](http://www.wpallimport.com)

We're a niche little WordPress plugin that allows users to import data from
any source - Excel, CSV, XML, JSON, SQL, etc. We recently launched our
exporter which will turn your WordPress data into a custom Excel file, CSV, or
XML.

My side project is a little plugin to help manage different server
environments: [https://github.com/joeguilmette/wp-local-
toolbox](https://github.com/joeguilmette/wp-local-toolbox)

------
mytochar
I'm a backend developer;

and, for a long time, I worked on side software projects; but, when I get
home, I'm often so tired from coding all day that I don't program as much at
home anymore. Lately, I've been learning to play a midi-controller and maybe
make some music :)

------
njpatel
Technical Lead, Xamarin Insights
([https://xamarin.com/insights](https://xamarin.com/insights))

Side Projects:
[https://github.com/skizzehq/skizze](https://github.com/skizzehq/skizze) \-
High-throughput probalistic data structure service. Also working on it's
Golang and Node.js client bindings (see the org.)

[https://github.com/njpatel/grpcc](https://github.com/njpatel/grpcc) \- a
nice-to-use gRPC CLI for testing/debugging gRPC services

[https://github.com/njpatel/HiveKit](https://github.com/njpatel/HiveKit) \- a
British gas Hive Heating -> HomeKit bridge

Also working on another little utility for devs around sending files between
machines, should be out by the weekend!

------
louisswiss
Technical cofounder of a SaaS company based in Switzerland.

Side project is a simple e-commerce website selling handmade jewellery
([http://www.wiggles.ch](http://www.wiggles.ch)) - I won't retire off it but I
spend < 4h/month on the project and it pays the rent...

------
bojo
Work as a contractor doing infrastructure/backend work.

Wrote a Riak Go driver before Basho decided to roll their own:
[https://github.com/riaken/riaken-core](https://github.com/riaken/riaken-core)

Writing a realtime programmable mech combat simulator in Haskell, the client
in Unity3d, the first SDK in JavaScript:
[https://armoredbits.com](https://armoredbits.com)

~~~
obvio171
Big fan of what you are doing with Armored Bits! Keep it up :)

------
williamstein
Normal day job: Professor of Mathematics at University of Washington (number
theory). This is a tenured position, which gives me a lot of flexibility for
"side projects". ([http://wstein.org](http://wstein.org))

Side project: SageMathCloud, which is a collaborative web application to make
teaching and research in mathematics using open source software easier and
more accessible. ([https://cloud.sagemath.com](https://cloud.sagemath.com))

I plan to swap the two starting in June 2016, so that being a professor would
then be my side project.

------
michus
At work I am a full-stack front-end developer, working on:

[https://wifi.garden](https://wifi.garden) \- Public WiFi network advertising
platform.

[https://mykoob.com](https://mykoob.com) \- School and education
network/system.

And few school related web-apps for Russian school networks.

At home I also like to try back-end development and mobile app development,
currently on weekends working on a Fiverr analog for Baltic market:
[https://faifsapp.com](https://faifsapp.com), writing myself the backend, API,
frontend and mobile app.

------
thraxil
Senior Programmer at Columbia University Center for Teaching and Learning.
Mostly backend and devopsy stuff.

Side projects:

* content-addressed storage cluster with a REST interface: [https://github.com/thraxil/cask/](https://github.com/thraxil/cask/)

* a circuit-breaker TCP proxy: [https://github.com/thraxil/cbp](https://github.com/thraxil/cbp)

* cyclomatic complexity analyzer for Go: [https://github.com/thraxil/cyclo](https://github.com/thraxil/cyclo)

* python constraint solver: [https://github.com/thraxil/constraint](https://github.com/thraxil/constraint)

* twitter to atom feed gateway: [https://github.com/thraxil/intweet](https://github.com/thraxil/intweet)

* utility for checking linked media on a page: [https://github.com/thraxil/mediacheck](https://github.com/thraxil/mediacheck)

* collect smoketest results and send them to graphite: [https://github.com/thraxil/chimney](https://github.com/thraxil/chimney)

* web based feed reader (wrote my own when Google Reader shut down): [https://github.com/thraxil/antisocial](https://github.com/thraxil/antisocial)

* figure drawing timed pose utility: [https://github.com/thraxil/zeuxis](https://github.com/thraxil/zeuxis)

* (semi) annual travelling charity art show popup event: [http://artsho.org/about/](http://artsho.org/about/)

* blog: [https://thraxil.org/](https://thraxil.org/)

* my art: [http://myopica.org/](http://myopica.org/)

* graduated interval recall flashcard web app: [https://github.com/thraxil/sebastian](https://github.com/thraxil/sebastian)

------
agnivade
Day Job: Software engineer at a startup looking to break in to the AR/VR
space. Exploring the VR tech scene and brainstorming product ideas.

Side Projects:

An app to remotely play youtube videos -
[https://github.com/agnivade/youremote](https://github.com/agnivade/youremote)

Implementation of Levenshtein distance in golang -
[https://github.com/agnivade/levenshtein](https://github.com/agnivade/levenshtein)

Wrapper of the scrypt api in golang - [https://github.com/agnivade/easy-
scrypt](https://github.com/agnivade/easy-scrypt)

Personal blog: [http://agniva.me](http://agniva.me)

------
golergka
I'm a lead client developer working with Unity3d engine. Right now I'm
developing game/app that improves people's vision.
[http://www.cp3app.com/](http://www.cp3app.com/) (Yeah, I know the reputation
that "brain training" apps have. But I also know that half of our office are
scientists and chief chief has publications in peer-reviewed journals about
this approximately each month.)

I'm participating in a month-long game jam right now, and lazily doing my own
little stupid game, which is really just an excuse to finally learn to do some
basic graphics myself. Also, music.

------
idkwid
I just made a full-time switch from front-end developer to Android developer
with the agency where I work.

Current side projects, nothing mind-blowing:

\- Just launched a small developer swag site[0]. I know, not very original. It
only carries a small amount of stickers right now, but 15% of every product
goes to support its related organization or OSS project, or it goes to support
a charity. So there's that.

\- A little Mac toolbar utility for designers that tests color combinations
against the WCAG. I'll be releasing it within the next two weeks.

[0] - [https://developerculture.com/](https://developerculture.com/)

------
dood
Was a senior backend/full-stack Python developer, now considering career
options, thinking about contracting or perhaps finding a remote position.

On the side I'm playing with Elixir/Phoenix and working on an experimental
knowledgebase.

------
dukoid
Developer/TL on a cross-platform template engine.

Current side projects centered on development on mobile:

\- Dataflow programming on Android: [http://flowgrid.org](http://flowgrid.org)

\- Tiny IDE for JavaScript: [http://tidej.net](http://tidej.net)

Older:

\- Android "native" HtmlView component:
[https://github.com/kobjects/htmlview](https://github.com/kobjects/htmlview)

\- Quake2 port to WebGL (via Jake+GWT):
[http://quake2playn.appspot.com/](http://quake2playn.appspot.com/)

\- kxml

------
leog7
project manager,

Working on the following projects

Devops Wiki
[https://github.com/Leo-G/DevopsWiki](https://github.com/Leo-G/DevopsWiki)

Flask-Scaffold, A tool to quickly scaffold database driven applications with
Python and the Flask framework

[https://github.com/Leo-G/Flask-Scaffold](https://github.com/Leo-G/Flask-
Scaffold)

Backup Bash- A simple backup script written in Bash

[https://github.com/Leo-G/backup-bash](https://github.com/Leo-G/backup-bash)

------
formichunter
Engineer The _sarcasm_ fun task of helping the company clean up their
technical debt and become an automated cloud company. It's a billion dollar
company so I'll be done in 5 years.

------
jkot
Consultant on database engine design, I take CS papers and provide practical
open-source implementation. I provide support for my own open-source project.
I also customize software like Zookeeper, Hazelcast or Spark.

My primary 'side' project is in my profile. A have several other 'side'
projects. But all programming I do is done for money.

Before I started consulting my current work was just a hobby. I also had other
projects in astronomy and strategy games, but I canceled that. I spend way too
much time on computer.

------
sycren
In London, I work as a consultant growing startups - but now I'm looking for a
full-time role in growth/marketing/partnerships for a high growth tech
company...

My side project is a hackathon/startup school hybrid focusing on creating
entreprenurial solutions that tackle the challenges of diversity -
[http://www.startupandbloom.com/](http://www.startupandbloom.com/)

Currently, I'm writing up press releases and sponsorship documents.

------
azrealus
I'm a full stack developer from Ithaca NY doing contracting work via
[http://ququplay.com](http://ququplay.com) In my spare time I'm working on a
scrabble like mobile game targeting Polish market called Literaki
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ququplay.l...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ququplay.literaki)

------
knwr
I'm currently working as a clerk in a government department. On the side, I'm
taking courses on Udacity to make the jump back to the other side. (I'm a CS
grad.)

------
s_kilk
Day Job: Full-stack developer.

Side-projects:

\- BedquiltDB ([http://bedquiltdb.github.io](http://bedquiltdb.github.io)), a
json doc-store layer over PostgreSQL.

\- NightChamber ([http://nightchamber.com](http://nightchamber.com)), a slow-
web social site.

\- various Clojure libraries.

\- Screwing around with Elixir.

\- I've been toying with the idea of building "the next github", no concrete
progress yet. Not sure I'll ever make progress on that one.

------
hotcool
Solo Entrepreneur and Conceptual Designer.

Working on the Wheatbin project management software and book:
[http://www.wheatbin.com](http://www.wheatbin.com)

Early access to the software is available through my "Rule of Nine" deal (and
helps me keep the lights on while I finish this):
[https://gumroad.com/l/ruleofnine](https://gumroad.com/l/ruleofnine)

------
gadders
IT Project Manager, created a blog for storing outage report post mortems. The
aim is that people will be able to search for EG "Cisco and Apache" and get
back all matching reports:

[https://www.outagereports.net](https://www.outagereports.net)

------
ryanicle
Working as Full Stack Software Developer.

\- Get browser details
([http://getbrowserdetails.com](http://getbrowserdetails.com))

\- SpotTrek ionic mobile app
([https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.metatrek.s...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.metatrek.spottrek&hl=en))

------
grahamel
Front end developer, current side project learning React with a Chrome
extension to show London Underground status
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/london-
underground...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/london-underground-
status/kikfibpnfanmjholkooofgfcafknbpei)

------
jeremiecoullon
PhD student in applied Math at UCL in London. Side project is public
engagement: short documentaries about academic research
([http://knowitwall.com](http://knowitwall.com) ); My role is web developer
(starting learning web dev from scratch which was and still is overwhelming
but fun :) )

------
_smaugh
Front-end developer, in Melbourne Australia

Put together an ecommerce website in two days and a photo of my dog,
[https://www.americanyarns.com.au](https://www.americanyarns.com.au)
incredibly rewarding and pays the rent Also 3 or 4 projects related to helping
high schoolers to find their first dev jobs

------
armatimel
Day job: full stack software dev.

Side project:

A blog: [http://trainerminds.com/](http://trainerminds.com/)

The engine of the blog is this one:
[https://github.com/spf13/hugo](https://github.com/spf13/hugo)

It's a static blog engine, it's like jekyll.

------
onion2k
Senior developer.

Side project #1 is a Chrome plugin to record user actions on a web page and
use the data to automate end-to-end testing with Nightwatch/Karma and
Selenium.

Side project #2 is a Chrome plugin to add tags to web content (anything, but
it's intended for tagging usernames) and share the tags between groups of
users.

------
zeemonkee3
Full stack Python/Django developer, recently launched a web podcast client [0]
using Go and ReactJS. Currently playing with Phoenix/Elixir, React, Vue and
Go.

[0] - [https://podbaby.me](https://podbaby.me)

------
dmilicic
I'm an Android/Rails contractor.

I've built a boilerplate project for starting Android apps using Clean
Architecture: [https://github.com/dmilicic/Android-Clean-
Boilerplate](https://github.com/dmilicic/Android-Clean-Boilerplate)

------
donny
I'm an iOS dev. I spent one month in Feb building
[https://emoji.cool](https://emoji.cool) :)

Choose an emoji and put it on your customized t-shirt

Stack: Ember, Stripe, AWS Lambda, plus other AWS services... It's kinda fun
building something "physical" :)

~~~
iraldir
Do you get clients?

------
sideproject
I'm a data scientist and also a full stack developer and my side projects are
[http://www.hellobox.com](http://www.hellobox.com) and
[http://www.heystartup.com](http://www.heystartup.com)

------
marak830
Freelance web/c# dev, and my side project is a voice command and control
system for star citizen(similar to voice attack but with fullscreen overlay
and natural speaking - sites currebtly down while i switch hosts and domain
name though haha).

------
manu29d
Web developer (recently started on Nodejs, prev: Rails).

Side projects include evaluating the use of NginX as an app server (ref: open-
resty). I am overwhelmed by the abundance of web frameworks available and the
never-ending list of tools/libraries to learn.

------
kidk_
Customer Success Manager at CoScale

Side projects:

\- Felt: front-end load testing
[https://github.com/kidk/felt](https://github.com/kidk/felt)

\- Pomodoro timer with stats (not public)

\- Map of glutenfree restaurants in Ghent (not finished)

------
password03
Starting new job next week as an R&D Analyst for a leading payment processor,
moving from an Android Developer position.

Side project is automating eBay / Amazon Arbitrage (Dropshipping) using Go /
Java. Learning Go in the process.

------
obvio171
Programmer in Campinas, Brazil, on a work pause recovering from RSI-related
problems.

As personal research I'm slowly working on a 8-thimble predictive wireless
keyboard and coming up with plans for a solar-peltier atmospheric water
generator.

------
Wunderbark
Job: InfoSec Analyst, Side Project: Mobile Dev:
[https://www.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_Security_Shepherd](https://www.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_Security_Shepherd)

------
alexandrat
I am a Backend (Java) Developer and one of my most recent side projects I
contributed to is: [http://salaryaftertax.com/](http://salaryaftertax.com/)

------
veli_joza
Embedded developer/engineer, currently on automotive project

Side projects: * realtime audio guitar effect processor * clone of Buspirate
on PSoC kit board * puzzle game for teaching digital logics and programming

------
milansm
Backend (Java) Developer. Side project: Slack app that removes trade-off
between communication and productivity in software development teams. Landing
page should be launched by the end of the week.

------
goqu
Working for KPMG on the helpdesk team. Side project: LogoMiner.com (Catalog of
logo designs for a random discovery, design analysis and download) Project
went live about 2 months ago

------
Q_the_Novice
Lead developer for a small London based start-up. Side project is a Node.js
community platform: [http://nodeza.co.za](http://nodeza.co.za).

------
cruppstahl
Engineering team lead. My side project is an embedded key/value database:
[http://upscaledb.com](http://upscaledb.com)

~~~
darfs
Off-Topic: By the way: [http://imgur.com/KrLQ9a3](http://imgur.com/KrLQ9a3)
What is the first line :? Visited with a Lenny 2, Wiko.

~~~
cruppstahl
thanks :) Will try to figure out how to fix this.

------
pauljohncleary
Product Manager

Side Projects:

\- [https://trombone.io](https://trombone.io)

\- [https://tab.bz](https://tab.bz)

------
harperlee
Big 4 technology advisory manager. The main side project I'm working on is a
MOOC platform written in clojure (nothing to see yet, though).

------
rootlocus
Fronted software engineer for a HFT company.

Side project: UI framework over OpenGl for java, to be used for a 2d game
editor, to be used for a 2d game.

------
iqonik
I'm a Perl dev. & my side project is:

[https://propertywizard.io](https://propertywizard.io)

------
DrScump
I'm a full-stack pancake developer, working on a new container implementation
in buckwheat.

------
sridharpoduri
Program Manager, working on SaaS application to reschedule meetings based on
user rules.

------
edoceo
CTO. Side project to streamline the technical job application and interview
process.

------
Pyxl101
> what are the side projects you are doing currently. This question is about
> having insight about what people are doing.

I find it interesting that you ask primarily about side projects rather than
just projects. Why are side projects more OK to discuss (or more interesting)
than projects?

I think it is sometimes a bad habit to follow the impulse to pursue an idea as
only a side project. Whether you're a line employee or a founder, I think
there's value to seriously pursuing ideas that you believe to have merit and
attempt to get traction behind them at your company. It's the path to career
growth and success in both cases. Keeping an idea as a "side project" limits
its potential success compared with sharing it with others at your workplace
and attempting to establish consensus around it and simply _doing it as a
project_. You learn a lot more that way, not only because you get feedback
from others about the idea. (Are you invested in the idea, or not? I don't
mean financially. Success does not come from investing in no ideas.)

Perhaps what you are asking is: "what are you working on that is too small for
you have bothered to try to garner consensus around it with others, to get
their support for your idea". Just a thought. Or perhaps your question betrays
an anxiety about one's inability to influence one's employer by altering
business plans -- that is to say, if you don't pitch an idea, then there's no
opportunity for it to be rejected. That is the impulse that I think we should
not generally encourage, since it does not promote growth; it allows fragile
and bad ideas to survive longer than they should, and it probably stunts good
ideas too. This is just my opinion.

All ideas also deserve a time where they're cultivating and premature to share
with others. Perhaps you are asking, "Share an idea here that you have not yet
shared with anyone".

Perhaps what you are implying is that it would be improper for someone to
discuss what they're doing at their job, in the context of their role at their
job. "I am a developer at X.com and I'm working on a project for X.com where
..." \- perhaps this class of answer seems uninteresting for surface reasons.
But why shouldn't it be interesting? Would it be boring to say, "I work at
Comcast and I help transition our legacy IPv4 networks to IPv6", or, "I work
at Google on an upcoming Google Compute Platform service", or "I help launch
the Apple iTunes store in new countries and territories worldwide".

Perhaps what you're asking is, "What work do you do will benefit and be
interesting to other engineers (e.g., building general purpose libraries and
tools for other software engineers)?"

Sorry, I don't mean to be contrary. I like to play devil's advocate, and I
think there's something interesting to dig into regarding what you intend to
ask and the implications behind the question. There is a whole bundle of
implications in that word "side project".

~~~
cjfont
In many cases, side projects have absolutely nothing to do with one's
mainstream work, so trying to have them gain traction at a company is moot.
For instance, if I work for the government doing IT services, why should they
sponsor my idea of creating a mobile game app?

