Build something to solve your own problem.
Last time i did (wrote real time data backup and mirroring tool) - it brought about $200k in "side cash" :)
Last time i did (wrote real time data backup and mirroring tool) - it brought about $200k in "side cash" :)
If the goal is really to make a reliable profit, then you should specifically look for problems programmers don't relate to. Make something for parents, old folks, hikers, knitting clubs, etc. They may not be as avid software consumers as programmers, but when you service is the first solution they've found, it's an easy sell.
Basically is there a way around this inconvenient truth?
What problems do those near you have?
Maybe your "problem" is that you don't know tech stack X very well. You're a competent (or good) programmer, you can come up with something good but need a motivator to further develop that skillset.
The original suggestion to "solve your own problem" is a sound one. He doesn't say that it has to be a problem programmers have. And I doubt he was implying it would absolutely lead to lottery-winning results ;)
I believe that is better advice than finding a problem you can't relate to at all. As Jtsummers also suggests, choose something you will be interested in. Will you want to spend your spare time working on a solution for knitters if you have never touched a piece of yarn in your life?
I would also look at gearing any project towards the B2B market, as opposed to B2C market. I spend much more money with much less hesitancy for tech and software when it helps me or my employer make more or waste less money.
And I hope that most HN commenters can feel free to say "here's what's worked for me" when asked for advice without first offering up a disclaimer, and I suspect most readers can discern a lot for themselves.
The majority of programmers' ideas on what they'd like to build fall into three categories:
(1) games
(2) tools (a utility, a compiler, etc.)
(3) social version of ______
Yeah, great fortunes have been made in all 3 areas. But every programmer is getting those same ideas, so you're going to have insane competition. In the case of (2), people do those for free. In the case of (3), because of network effect, out of 1000 people that try it, one will be winner-take-all. A good first pass might be to eliminate ideas for games, tools, and social whatnot.
> Make something for parents, old folks, hikers, knitting clubs, etc.
But intersect that list with problems where people are already paying significant money but getting mediocre results.
Eg., old folks pay $3000 for hearing aids, but elderly people often say that the results are awful. For many old folks, it's a speech discrimination problem -- sound amplification is not what's needed. What if you built a system that captures what the senior is listening to, and repeats it back in a slow, smooth, clear voice into his ear in near real-time?
For further refinement, you could eliminate extraneous noises and conversations from the input, use a voice and accent that the old person is accustomed to, and allow for automatic repeating if he tilts his head slightly left.