Ask HN: Im great at building prototypes, what business should I be in?

I work as a research programmer at a college and prototypes are all we build. However there are very few jobs like this (grant money rarely pays for programmers except a few in big grants and colleges don't have much support for research via engineering and programming staff because it's difficult to justify the overhead for that kind of staff when the need is so variable and students work for cheap or free.) . It's also very different from industry or government jobs, more like being in a startup where you have to train students, deal with many cultures, and do odd jobs (legal analysis, inventory, paperwork, purchasing, etc.) to make things work. Also the prototypes you build often are not actually functional; important parts will be left out or simulated because they are not critical to the research as a proof of concept. It can be frustrating to never build anything that actually accomplishes a functional goal. Pay tends to suck too though that's somewhat location, project, and skill dependent. Medical research has a lot more support positions like this, but requires more specialized skills. And all these jobs are a dead end, there is no place to move up to; the best you can hope for is to eventually become part of a startup or get some extra income from a patent or get a discount on getting a PhD. However, that's not a problem if you're more interested in the research than the money. Projects range from small (a month) to big (5 years) and you'll likely be working on several of them at all times (to make sure there's enough grant money to cover your salary). You'd think there would be a great deal of programming and engineering support for researchers since they are the ones trying to solve the big problems today (except when they're following fads or picking low hanging fruit to build their publish-or-perish careers), but no, most researchers have to do everything themselves with little outside support. Projects end when the students leave or the money runs out, and often that's the end of good ideas. Business rarely adopts them. Occasionally you may get a chance to make a difference. Most of what you'll do has never been done by anyone before, so while you learn a lot due to always working with new technologies, you become expert in nothing since the demands of different projects tend to be very different, and little is re-usable between projects and the skills you learn are somewhat weird, like hacking internals of systems to do something no one in business would ever consider doing. So transitioning back to industry after a time in research could be difficult.

bhnmmhmd · 8 years ago

That's a very gloomy situation. I've been thinking about continuing my education in the field of data science, but what you just described makes me worry about what I will be putting myself into.

May I ask, do you think the situation is the same in data-science / IT -related fields, too?

I'm confused when you say prototypes are you talking

web, apps, etc.?

Hardware as in electronic devices? computers?

Are they functional or just design mock ups?

cronjobma · 8 years ago

Functional prototypes of both hardware and/or software (web and/or mobile). I used to help companies like theme parks design concepts and build prototypes that they could use to get sponsors for their parks. As well as large corporations that needed wuick prototypes of apps or games that they needed to fundraise to fund the full product development process. I would basically help them up to the internal or externL fundraising pitches. Won awards for my work. Im just sick of client work and would love to find a way that I could use my skills in a more independent way.

Southworth · 8 years ago

Sounds like you need a manager.

bhnmmhmd · 8 years ago

Have you considered starting a consulting firm?

Seems you have enough experience and expertise to lead a few people such as yours and give counsel to companies in the field of product prototyping.

codegeek · 8 years ago

"Im tired of doing work for clients"

A business by definition means that you will have to deal with clients. Sure, it could be a product or service or a mix of both but you can never get rid of clients. Otherwise you have no business.

The only exceptions are the types where you run a profitable blog, online courses, ads and make money through those but even they require dealing with your clients at times (e.g. buyer of a course) but the interactions will be limited and much less demanding.

The issue with clients is more that I want to make stuff I want. Not based on someone's brief. Working with people is something I enjoy.

bluehat · 8 years ago

The customer will always be right. The difference is with contractors is they lead the framing. With a startup, you lead the framing.

But customers are always going to have dumb ideas, and you generally don't get to tell them to completely fuck themselves.

AznHisoka · 8 years ago

the definition of a business is to solve the problems of someone else, not yours.

azeirah · 8 years ago

I have the same skill, can build cool things in a few days, but don't really like working on one thing for a longer period of time. I want to be a researcher :o

magic_beans · 8 years ago

Ha! You should work at an ad agency. New projects every couple days.

franklinho · 8 years ago

Yeah, but you also get paid shit. Ad agencies can't afford anyone worth their salt.

rapjr9 · 8 years ago

sharemywin · 8 years ago

woolybully · 8 years ago

Applied Invention. https://www.appliedinvention.com/#about

Applied Minds is hiring. http://appliedminds.com/

mring33621 · 8 years ago

1) prototyping skills workshop/bootcamp 2) prototyping blog/vlog with affiliate ads/links 3) factor out common sets of items & sell prototyping kits

Is there a way to find if there's ($$) demand for prototyping workshops?

eswat · 8 years ago

You’d have to do some legwork. Find a local hacker/co-working space and ask if you can host a paid workshop there.

bitshaker · 8 years ago

Build stuff you want and then license the things to large companies who would want to actually make a business around what you build.

Here's someone doing just that: https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/podcasts/how-to-get-paid-...

meric · 8 years ago

Building one-off cool devices and auction it to the highest bidder. Market to the super rich.

amirouche · 8 years ago

Is there a platform to auction things like you describe?