I don't think there's any real value in HN points, so you're basically asking if it's worthy of something worthless. It's just an indicator of interest by the HN community, not a gift of any worth. That being said, I'm sure a decent chunk of the 900 votes were from software devs, many of whom are probably ones that work their tails off. It's possible there is something more intriguing than the dedication alone. One thing I find interesting is the head-first/all-in nature of the project.