In the thread about Oracle rdtsc observed that 'the crowd who picks and buys Oracle doens't hang out on HN'.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9703603
That's most likely true, but I suspect that we do have some people from that crowd and from plenty of other interesting niches in IT as well as well as lots of non-IT people that somehow are attracted to HN.
So hence my question, What are you working on?
What field would you consider your niche and how is it working out for you?
Definitely Niche. I've been doing it for about 15 years and I keep seeing the same consultants over and over again.
Here's the deal. Most manufacturing companies (think Big Pharma, Petrochemical, Chemical, Widget manufacturing, anything really) measure quality. Those quality measurements are probably done in a laboratory. Every laboratory generates data. All that data needs to be managed well so that the laboratory can maintain its accredidation.
Basically, LIMS systems manage samples and lab result data. In addition, they probably integrate with Instruments and instrument software to automate some of that data entry.
Other industries besides manufacturing are Govt (waste and wastewater treatment labs), Third-party labs (labs that do testing for other companies), Healthcare (clinical labs), Forensic Labs, and more.
Bottom line, there are tons of laboratories and they all need to manage their data.
The players in this space are downright stuck in the last decade. There is so much opportunity here for a few new players to come in and make a step-change.
I'm currently working on creating a modern LIMS to manage Laboratory data.