Ask HN: Are there people who just experiment with tech and make a living?
Independently, without having to worry about commercialisation like entrepreneurs do? Like modern Leonardo DaVincis?
If so, how do they get paid? Writing books or something?
If so, how do they get paid? Writing books or something?
The closest thing I know are some evangelizers in big companies who build proofs of concepts with megacorp tech + state of the art solutions in order to display some features or products in action and how does it integrate. A similar role are the proofs of concept made by engineers/prototypers who work for an offering manager.
In a similar fashion Software Architects, or other tech decision makers, might have the chance to experiment with technology for about one week every 2 years just to proof that certain technology fits the bill for their project, but usually they also additional worries, so usually all their experiments and choices are highly conservative and tend to be old proven technology which they want to double check with their existing stack.