Highly specialized search engine/filterable directory. Something that could be more valuable than Google in one specific category. Ideally one that doesn't have a lot of existing commercial appeal. So, for example, there are a lot of search engines for real estate listings— because there is obvious money in that. But there are probably fewer search engines for, say, Abbot and Costello movies.
Pick a super niche hobby or passion you are interested in and combine it with your coding skills to come up with something super neat to a small group of people. As a Simpsons fan, frinkiac comes to mind as a great example.
This is the kind of project which is hard for "the big guy" to compete directly, even if it's Google, just because specialization affords opportunity to perfect certain nuances.
It's nice to have projects which don't require "initial users" to be worthwhile. This is the kind of thing where the information is already out there, but it's up to you to figure out how to structure the information in a way that makes this tool uniquely valuable.
If this seems like highly specific advice, I'll say that I already built something like this for comic book characters. I essentially took information available in existing databases and presented it in a way that was delightful and approachable. The UX was better than the old sites I found the info on. I had real daily visitors and people liked it. I was working on this around the same time I was hacking away on DEV, so DEV kind of took over and I let the other thing die.
I remember doing a search engine for youtube video metadata as a takehome project once. That project was perhaps my first exposure to inverted indexes, and made me a believer in project-based learning. Turns out inverted indexes are like real indexes but for words; you'll develop super human intuition on database indexes by doing a project like this. Also I found the project, if you're curious
That’s a fantastic piece of advice! I instantly had a light bulb. We order hardware at work from a Siemens, a very very large industrial company. They sell so many different things to so many different types of customers, the user experience isn’t even a consideration. Also, their primary language is German and things get lost in translation often for us. I call it a bit of a miracle that the information is even there - but it’s not for the faint of heart. People at my work come to me any time they need a data sheet from them, typically a few times a week. I may explore building something like that for the types of hardware we use. I’ve had some new stacks I’ve been itching to try out. :)
I've always wanted to learn more about any given culture by exploring the lyrics of their mainstream/non-mainstream bands. Just sayin', if Bangladesh, Belize, or Brazil has a Mandolin Orange dropping tracks about something as important/complicated as immigration reform or the birth of a nation, I'd want to learn about it.
That's exactly what I thought, when I was creating search engine for dance events! I noticed that I could analyze descriptions for keywords and add some meta information for google and build some useful filters on top. I am planning to do same thing for dance videos, meanwhile trying to find developers to form an outsource community for dancers.
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Highly specialized search engine/filterable directory. Something that could be more valuable than Google in one specific category. Ideally one that doesn't have a lot of existing commercial appeal. So, for example, there are a lot of search engines for real estate listings— because there is obvious money in that. But there are probably fewer search engines for, say, Abbot and Costello movies.
Pick a super niche hobby or passion you are interested in and combine it with your coding skills to come up with something super neat to a small group of people. As a Simpsons fan, frinkiac comes to mind as a great example.
This is the kind of project which is hard for "the big guy" to compete directly, even if it's Google, just because specialization affords opportunity to perfect certain nuances.
It's nice to have projects which don't require "initial users" to be worthwhile. This is the kind of thing where the information is already out there, but it's up to you to figure out how to structure the information in a way that makes this tool uniquely valuable.
If this seems like highly specific advice, I'll say that I already built something like this for comic book characters. I essentially took information available in existing databases and presented it in a way that was delightful and approachable. The UX was better than the old sites I found the info on. I had real daily visitors and people liked it. I was working on this around the same time I was hacking away on DEV, so DEV kind of took over and I let the other thing die.
Happy coding ❤️
I remember doing a search engine for youtube video metadata as a takehome project once. That project was perhaps my first exposure to inverted indexes, and made me a believer in project-based learning. Turns out inverted indexes are like real indexes but for words; you'll develop super human intuition on database indexes by doing a project like this. Also I found the project, if you're curious
github.com/richytong/yvmt
That’s a fantastic piece of advice! I instantly had a light bulb. We order hardware at work from a Siemens, a very very large industrial company. They sell so many different things to so many different types of customers, the user experience isn’t even a consideration. Also, their primary language is German and things get lost in translation often for us. I call it a bit of a miracle that the information is even there - but it’s not for the faint of heart. People at my work come to me any time they need a data sheet from them, typically a few times a week. I may explore building something like that for the types of hardware we use. I’ve had some new stacks I’ve been itching to try out. :)
I've always wanted to learn more about any given culture by exploring the lyrics of their mainstream/non-mainstream bands. Just sayin', if Bangladesh, Belize, or Brazil has a Mandolin Orange dropping tracks about something as important/complicated as immigration reform or the birth of a nation, I'd want to learn about it.
That's exactly what I thought, when I was creating search engine for dance events! I noticed that I could analyze descriptions for keywords and add some meta information for google and build some useful filters on top. I am planning to do same thing for dance videos, meanwhile trying to find developers to form an outsource community for dancers.