The graveyard of good ideas
Solutions that were tried, and what stopped them.
Patents that were rejected or abandoned, products that shut down, projects that went quiet. Borrow the idea, avoid the dead end.
796 solutions
- startupShut down2016
Ask HN: Is it possible for someone to not be cut out for software engineering?
I'm pretty new to software engineering (~1 year out of college as a CS major) and am having some serious problems improving my skillset (particularly with interviews). Background: - I worked as a linux sysadmin at a startup before going to school for CS. After 3 years, I graduated with a decent GPA (>3.6) and a couple internships at a large tech company. - In college, I always felt like I had to work a harder than most of my classmates in order to get the same result. I would regularly spend 60 - 80 hours per week on schoolwork. - Upon graduation, I accepted a job with the company I interned with and have worked there for ~1.3 years. However, I've been prepping to jump to a different role for a few months now. - Recently (past 1.5 months), I've spent 1 - 3 hours per day on tech interview prep using CLRS, Cracking the Coding Interview, etc. My current target is a role at
Why it failed: I'm pretty new to software engineering (~1 year out of college as a CS major) and am having some serious problems improving my skillset (particularly with interviews). Background: - I worked as a linux sysadmin at a startup before going to school for CS. After 3 years, I gra
conflicted_dev
- startupShut down2016
Love My Company but Feel Like My Salary Is Low
Like the title says, I love my company and everyone that works there. It's a company with about 20 of us who are mostly developers. I generally really like it - I feel like I could be more challenging work (but I think that's a bit of the grass is always greener). My friends in tech are giving me crap because they know I only make around 50k and I'm entering a mid level of experience as a Front-End Dev. My skill set looks like this: high levels of knowledge with OO Javascript, Angular.js/Backbone/Ember.js, Ruby on Rails, Postgres/Mysql, Grunt, Less/SCSS. I've been here for 4 years now. I'd rather have better quality of life than get paid a lot but I can't help thinking that 50k is feeling a little low for the Portland, OR area. Any stories of a good balance between salary and quality of life? Or in a similar situation?
Why it failed: Like the title says, I love my company and everyone that works there. It's a company with about 20 of us who are mostly developers. I generally really like it - I feel like I could be more challenging work (but I think that's a bit of the grass is always greener). My fr
spellsadmoose
- startupShut down2016
Ask HN: Is Silicon Valley Becoming an Insiders Club?
I've been a web developer my whole career, with a CS degree, and 16 years experience. In 2007 I joined a new VOD startup and quickly rose to CTO position, then over the next 9 years grew it to 7-figure users and revenue, 16 engineers, and a highly respected brand in an industry niche. We hit a rough financial patch, so I left for another seed-stage startup which failed to gain traction. Now, for the first time in 16 years I find myself looking for a job in SV without a direct reference. I was assuming that my broad experience, ability to bridge the technology-business gap, natural programming ability, and entrepreneurial spirit and tenacity would make me the kind of sought after employee that all growing SV companies claim they can't find enough of. Unfortunately after interviewing at ten top companies (mostly later stage YC), I've been declined nine times. The last compan
Why it failed: I've been a web developer my whole career, with a CS degree, and 16 years experience. In 2007 I joined a new VOD startup and quickly rose to CTO position, then over the next 9 years grew it to 7-figure users and revenue, 16 engineers, and a highly respected brand in an indus
svreject
- startupShut down2016
Apply HN: Anonymous P2P therapy phone calls (going through a rough time?)
What we do: We like to think of it as a ‘Anonymous User to User therapy sessions’. We are building a mobile app that allows users who are going through a rough time in their life to be connected to a random person around the world to have a real phone call with. Why: We all go through rough times. It can be school, love life, or not getting into YC fellowship (hint). Some of these things are very tough to talk about with people you know IRL (judgmental, embarrassing, they don’t care, ect). And we all know for a fact that talking it out with someone and getting advice is a great way to fix problems. This is done much easier when it’s an anonymous person on the other end so you can be 100% free. How it works: Imagine you just got denied from YC fellowship. You’re there lying in bed all embarrassed and sad, but you can’t tell anyone about it because you’re just not that close to someone els
Why it failed: What we do: We like to think of it as a ‘Anonymous User to User therapy sessions’. We are building a mobile app that allows users who are going through a rough time in their life to be connected to a random person around the world to have a real phone call with. Why: We all go th
yshajahan16
- startupShut down2016
Suggest HN: Studies based on small sample sizes shouldn't be on HN
Reading about studies based on small sample sizes has in total misinformed me. I've been convinced of many surprising things based on a trust that the research was well conducted, and that published results are on average true. The building replication crisis has shown that this faith was misplaced, particularly in certain fields. For instance, it's now clear that I would have believed more true things and fewer false things if I had not heard about a single result from social psychology. I'm still rooting out beliefs that I came to based on bad research. (Unfortunately my mind doesn't maintain an index of beliefs by source. I wish I could request this feature.) I'm rightly bitter about this, and I see the problem continuing. For instance, this submission is worse than worthless: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13144483 . It's impossible
Why it failed: Reading about studies based on small sample sizes has in total misinformed me. I've been convinced of many surprising things based on a trust that the research was well conducted, and that published results are on average true. The building replication crisis has shown that
syllogism
- startupShut down2016
Need a raise, how to ask?
This is probably a very simple question that a simple Google query can answer, but I'd like to get some opinions on the matter. About me: - 3 year exp software engineer - 84k/year salary - Ruby on Rails, JS, CoffeeScript, MySQL, HTML/CSS (currently the UI guru..) - Oversee 2 folks on the US side (we also have offshore folks) and we all work under 1 App Architect - Company is based out of Boston - I live and work remotely outside of Boston. The company has always been fast-paced. I work on everything for the front end. This means: 7 different Rails apps (internal & external), 5 different Rails engines, ~10 in-house built gems, and I also delegate work to 2 folks under me as a tech lead for a new project. According to Payscale.com (including perks, etc): - Boston rankings: 38th percentile @ 84k/year - Where I live/work remotely: 75th percentile @ 84k/year
Why it failed: This is probably a very simple question that a simple Google query can answer, but I'd like to get some opinions on the matter. About me: - 3 year exp software engineer - 84k/year salary - Ruby on Rails, JS, CoffeeScript, MySQL, HTML/CSS (currently the UI guru..) -
djmill
- startupShut down2016
Microsoft is closing all old bug reports they couldn't fix
That's a letter I received today: This notification was generated for feedback item: <...> which you submitted at the Microsoft Connect (http://connect.microsoft.com) site. Thank you for taking the time to report this problem. This problem was reported two years ago. In an effort to focus our resources on the most impactful problems, we are closing old Connect issues. If this problem is still important to you, please go to https://community.visualstudio.com and follow the instructions there to file a new report.
Why it failed: That's a letter I received today: This notification was generated for feedback item: <...> which you submitted at the Microsoft Connect (http://connect.microsoft.com) site. Thank you for taking the time to report this problem. This problem was reported two ye
ianderf
- startupShut down2016
Ask HN: Is Apple about to kill the Macbooks?
With no announcements in sight for new MBPs and Apple pushing iPads as replacement for full laptops, are MacOS and Macbooks going to be discontinued in the near future? Will we end up programming on an iPad if we want to program for their products?
Why it failed: With no announcements in sight for new MBPs and Apple pushing iPads as replacement for full laptops, are MacOS and Macbooks going to be discontinued in the near future? Will we end up programming on an iPad if we want to program for their products?
rreyes1979
- startupShut down2016
Followup: Ask HN: Struggling to pay rent this month. Can I help you with a gig?
Original: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10813746 I wanted to share with HN what happened, since a lot of these "hey, help me" posts go unanswered. I was able to successfully pay rent thanks to a few quick gigs that came my way. I was able to work about $2k, a comfortable position while I decide what my next move is. Said invoice remains unpaid. I'm now a debt collector. There are options to consolidate, but the amount is in excess of $25k which makes things difficult. I do have contracts in place, and counsel I can lean on, but it’s an incredibly exhausting and lengthy process. As a 24-year-old dev-shop founder I have learned my lesson. I'll require pre-paid invoices from here on. There’s more to the story, but in short, I've wound things down after my co-founder (design/sales) unexpectedly left us in early Q2 2015. The response was ove
Why it failed: Original: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10813746 I wanted to share with HN what happened, since a lot of these "hey, help me" posts go unanswered. I was able to successfully pay rent thanks to a few quick gigs that came my way. I was able to work a
_whynow
- startupShut down2016
Private Internet Access: We Are Removing Our Russian Presence
To Our Beloved Users, The Russian Government has passed a new law that mandates that every provider must log all Russian internet traffic for up to a year. We believe that due to the enforcement regime surrounding this new law, some of our Russian Servers (RU) were recently seized by Russian Authorities, without notice or any type of due process. We think it’s because we are the most outspoken and only verified no-log VPN provider. Luckily, since we do not log any traffic or session data, period, no data has been compromised. Our users are, and will always be, private and secure. Upon learning of the above, we immediately discontinued our Russian gateways and will no longer be doing business in the region. To make it clear, the privacy and security of our users is our number one priority. For preventative reasons, we are rotating all of our certificates. Furthermore, we’re updating our c
Why it failed: To Our Beloved Users, The Russian Government has passed a new law that mandates that every provider must log all Russian internet traffic for up to a year. We believe that due to the enforcement regime surrounding this new law, some of our Russian Servers (RU) were recently seize
radiorental
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: Average savings per month?
Hi, I usually read about devs making 110-130k in the West Coast, and generally less in other states... But I'm curious about how much on average do they end up saving at the end of the month. I know it differs a lot depending on the lifestyle, but how much is the norm? (For a single, with no kids, to simplify things) A simple breakdown of the main expenses would be greatly appreciated, i.e. taxes, rent, food, health, services, leisure, rest=savings. What percentage of your salary do you end up saving? Thanks! (Answers from other countries would be interesting too, for a richer comparison!!)
Why it failed: Hi, I usually read about devs making 110-130k in the West Coast, and generally less in other states... But I'm curious about how much on average do they end up saving at the end of the month. I know it differs a lot depending on the lifestyle, but how much is the norm? (For
molmalo
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: Feeling pressured to accept startup job offer quickly
Hi, I recently got offered a startup job at a nice little company in SF. Everything seems OK with the company and job. After going back and forth a little on the compensation we came to an agreement. However, they are pressuring me to take the job asap because they have a short list and who ever says 'yes' first gets the job. I've never encountered this situation before. Is this normal? Here's something else that makes me suspicious: I'm a terrible interviewer and not a great programmer and am suspicious that there's a company that will accept me. The interview process was a bit long and through with a phone screen and an office visit and a follow up interview. Maybe this is the interview I finally just nailed after many failed interviews. I can't really tell. I'm a little worried about leaving my current job because now I'm wondering if this
Why it failed: Hi, I recently got offered a startup job at a nice little company in SF. Everything seems OK with the company and job. After going back and forth a little on the compensation we came to an agreement. However, they are pressuring me to take the job asap because they have a short l
yahth
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: What do you wish you knew in your early twenties?
I ask this question to people in my life who, by my standards, "made it". It's usually a person who successfully sold his startup, is leading research field expert or otherwise distinguished in his career (e.g. a president of huge corporation). The question is vague for a reason - to not bias the person. I am interested to hear about everything: technical, financial, social, professional, etc. My thesis is that while we cannot look forward in time (well, not yet) it is easy to look backwards and connect the dots. Hence, I ask this question to learn what's ahead and get prepared for it now. There are few things that usually come up, for example: be humble, work backwards from end-goal, hard work is basis for most things, it's often worth scarifying short term goals for a longer term pay-off, learn to appreciate simple things in life. So, HN audience, what do you w
Why it failed: I ask this question to people in my life who, by my standards, "made it". It's usually a person who successfully sold his startup, is leading research field expert or otherwise distinguished in his career (e.g. a president of huge corporation). The question is vagu
AndriusSutas
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: Techniques for surviving a job you loathe?
I would love to get some advise from people who have been in less than ideal situations and how they got through it. I would love to know techniques for dealing stress, mundane work environments, and not being challenged. I was involved in a startup for a year that ended early last year because the person funding it got cold feet - it was his idea. As a result, I basically took the first job I could find, which is in the finance industry. My roles to date have largely been around management of people and architecture. My home town is literally at the bottom end of Australia. Beautiful place but there are very few development jobs and no paying startups here. I have a child with another on the way. My partners salary is insufficient for us to live on. My job is a dev at a medium size company (around 300). The development in this company is appalling, non scoring on the Joel test and the w
Why it failed: I would love to get some advise from people who have been in less than ideal situations and how they got through it. I would love to know techniques for dealing stress, mundane work environments, and not being challenged. I was involved in a startup for a year that ended early la
trevaa
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: Bootstrappers, what do you do during down time?
I wish things were always busy. By busy I mean, I'm getting inbound leads, I'm having conversations via email or phone, I'm selling, I'm quoting, I'm fixing stuff on the product. Then it goes from crazy busy to suddenly quiet. I just don't know what to do with the down time. I get super uneasy and anxious. I try to do some content marketing but I make so little progress, it's hard to see any result very quickly, so I switch to optimizing the web or landing page and then get see how my PPC campaigns are doing and then reading HN or listening to podcast on bootstrapping etc. I feel inefficient and spread thin. I feel terrible when things are quiet. I have an urge to start cranking out updates and new features on the product but I stop myself, as I only decided to create features that enough paying users request. I have a terrible habit of playing counters
Why it failed: I wish things were always busy. By busy I mean, I'm getting inbound leads, I'm having conversations via email or phone, I'm selling, I'm quoting, I'm fixing stuff on the product. Then it goes from crazy busy to suddenly quiet. I just don't know what
curiously
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: Any HN stats analysis been done?
I was just thinking of some questions about HN discussions - things like what does the average discussion look like? How long between replies is common / polite (I seem to let the other end hang for hours) I don't particularly care about best time to post (that's defined by me as when I am struck by something) but there are many interesting questions one could ask the corpus (Which leads to the other question - is there a good way to get hold of the corpus?)
Why it failed: I was just thinking of some questions about HN discussions - things like what does the average discussion look like? How long between replies is common / polite (I seem to let the other end hang for hours) I don't particularly care about best time to post (that's d
lifeisstillgood
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: How do you deal with after work fatigue?
I started working in programming 3 years ago. Ever since I got into 8h/days programming, I feel really tired after I come home. I'm not able to do the meaningless task, and sometimes I just get into bed at 7 and sleep. I suppose that the nature of our jobs depletes our will and maybe that's why I'm like this. I tried doing some push-ups, going by bike to work, quitting smoking, but didn't solve much. So if anyone was in the same position and found a way to get by, I would really appreciate some advices. I feel I live only during the week-ends.
Why it failed: I started working in programming 3 years ago. Ever since I got into 8h/days programming, I feel really tired after I come home. I'm not able to do the meaningless task, and sometimes I just get into bed at 7 and sleep. I suppose that the nature of our jobs depletes our
zuzuleinen
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: Losing interest
I learned how to code in University and did pretty well at it after an initial struggle. I studied EE but felt like being a programmer matched my interests better so I got a job in that. I've been working a few years at the same place. I write Python REST APIs at the moment. The other person on my team does UI work, which I started out doing and still do sometimes. I've built the whole back end system from scratch so I feel like I have a good understanding of how everything works and the ability to work on any level of the stack, though I know the most about the back end. I have been feeling disinterested in what I'm working on. My team is only 2 people and we don't work together on much of anything. I find this other person difficult to talk to. A couple of friends from Uni work there but all 3 of us are different projects. My company seems to have issues hiring peop
Why it failed: I learned how to code in University and did pretty well at it after an initial struggle. I studied EE but felt like being a programmer matched my interests better so I got a job in that. I've been working a few years at the same place. I write Python REST APIs at the moment.
thebigspacefuck
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: Can you give me some advice on writing essays?
I am trying to learn to write some interesting essays/blog post, and I need some advice, because I'm completely stuck. I have had trouble coming up with things to talk about my whole life. I read a lot, and I feel like I know a lot of things, but when I sit down to write my mind goes completely blank, I have nothing to say, or rather I feel like there's nothing worth writing about. I don't have anything to say to people who know less than me, because explaining obvious things seems boring, and I don't know what to say to people on HN/LessWrong, because I feel like they are smarter than me and already know everything I am about to say. For example when I read Eliezer Yudkowsky's essays, I think that I already know a lot of the things he is talking about, so before I've read them I had this information in my head, information that could be turned int
Why it failed: I am trying to learn to write some interesting essays/blog post, and I need some advice, because I'm completely stuck. I have had trouble coming up with things to talk about my whole life. I read a lot, and I feel like I know a lot of things, but when I sit down to writ
rayalez
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: My tools broke, and I am broke, what now?
I am from Brazil, that is having a economic hard time right now, also I don't have a regular income for almost an year (and my last real job was many years ago). I got some small freelancing work to do, I was going to deliver a milestone tomorrow, I was using my startup old workstation that was left on my house (after the startup ran out of rent money) to work on that, but the HDD failed about one hour and a half ago, and the diagnostic tools that come with OSX say that it is impossible to salvage. I am broke, almost literally, in Brazil you cannot ask for bankruptcy as individual, if I could I would ask, I am in debt, have no income and I am struggling to pay rent and food. And the work I had to do requires an OSX, I also own a laptop in its last throes (several parts of it already failed or are randomly working only sometimes) but it is one of those that came with a stupid bios lo
Why it failed: I am from Brazil, that is having a economic hard time right now, also I don't have a regular income for almost an year (and my last real job was many years ago). I got some small freelancing work to do, I was going to deliver a milestone tomorrow, I was using my startup old
speeder
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: How do you deal with professional jealousy and getting older?
I'm a 26 y.o. software dev working on going indie. All my life, I've struggled with procrastination. I find it very hard to sit down and work on a project without an external motivator, and on many nights I end up vegging out in front of the TV or aimlessly clicking around on the internet. As a result, even though I am successful on an absolute scale — CS degree from a top-10, worked at a startup and a large company, enough savings to last a few years of solo development — by my own metric of success, I am crippled by the feeling that it's "too late". Every day, I read an article by some hot-shot young dev who has a handful of fancy projects behind his belt (not to mention a great website and design sensibility) while I have exactly zero — and he's half a decade younger than me! How will I ever be able to catch up? Experience-wise, I'm still a junior de
Why it failed: I'm a 26 y.o. software dev working on going indie. All my life, I've struggled with procrastination. I find it very hard to sit down and work on a project without an external motivator, and on many nights I end up vegging out in front of the TV or aimlessly clicking aro
tastyface
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: If I were your dream hire, would you hire me? I live in Somalia
I'm at a dead end career-wise and the job market I'm at does not offer any better alternatives than my current job. The pay is great but I find the work I do pretty depressing compared to the stuff I know I'm capable of. I've tried to demonstrate and explain the value I could be bring if we were to do things differently but I've lost hope that I'll ever get through to anyone. HN has always been inspiring regarding starting your own business and although that is something I want to try, I'm more curious right now about the feasibility of finding a job outside the country. The question is, I don't know if that's even possible. How would a company even determine if I'm worth hiring and going through all the work to get me a work visa if they can't even interview me in person? Would they tolerate my crappy internet if they try to intervi
Why it failed: I'm at a dead end career-wise and the job market I'm at does not offer any better alternatives than my current job. The pay is great but I find the work I do pretty depressing compared to the stuff I know I'm capable of. I've tried to demonstrate and explain t
xtrumanx
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: What should I do if I feel burnt out?
I'm a 23 year old developer working for a medium size startup. I made the switch to my current employer about four months ago from a corporate job. While I enjoyed the move for the first three months or so, I do not feel the same now. The reason is that recently one of "star" developers at my current employer was poached by another company. As a result, most of his work (which I had no clue of) came on my shoulders. The code that I inherited is unidiomatic and written in a way that only the author could understand. And now, since I "own" the code, I've been putting extra hours and working on it as much as 15 hours a day to understand it and make fixes (which has become my day job). Despite of all this, I've failed to deliver on most deadlines (as the managers had higher expectations from me). To add to all of this, I've been diagnosed with hyperten
Why it failed: I'm a 23 year old developer working for a medium size startup. I made the switch to my current employer about four months ago from a corporate job. While I enjoyed the move for the first three months or so, I do not feel the same now. The reason is that recently one of "
rsjaaji
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: My startup has failed. What comes next?
My startup of about two years has failed. We were hanging on for the last couple of months in the hopes of getting a big break. We're out of money now. My motivation levels are also pretty low after so many repeated failures. My question is, for other people that have been in the same situation: What did you do after? Did you start looking for a job? Did you jump straight into your next startup. I'm also considering whether it's possible to pick up small programming jobs on Elance to pay the bills.
Why it failed: My startup of about two years has failed. We were hanging on for the last couple of months in the hopes of getting a big break. We're out of money now. My motivation levels are also pretty low after so many repeated failures. My question is, for other people that have been i
blinduck