Ask HN: How to start up as an individual developer?

13 points | by alexyan0431 3 days ago

6 comments

  • nicbou 2 days ago

    > No pull requests, no issues, even no stars

    This is the standard for most projects

    What is your objective?

    • alexyan0431 2 days ago

      I totally agree! As most of developers do, I want my projects to be seen by more users. It's really helpful to find out the drawbacks in my projects and make me realize how to imporve my works. I need feedbacks, both positive and negative are welcome. So I'm writing this post to ask my seniors for advice and experiences on how to promote an open-source project.

    • This is normal. Projects used by others are the exception. They are usually driven by skilled marketing efforts or funding.

      • alexyan0431 1 day ago

        Yes. Marketing skills are significant, and I'm trying to learn more about it. It's just at the early stage for me though lol. I hope I can stick to it.

      • OutrageousTea 1 day ago

        Post it where your users already spend time and keep it simple—show what problem it solves, not just the code.

        • alexyan0431 1 day ago

          Agreed. I think that's the basis of promotion and marketing: find your users and make sure you can reach them. I'll try to be more focused on meeting the needs. Ty.

        • milkytron 2 days ago

          What do you find them useful for? Could they potentially provide value to another open source project if integrated?

          • alexyan0431 2 days ago

            The inspiration came from scattered fragments of my observed needs in life, so it may be hard to intergrate the tools. But I can intentionally do this afterwards. Thank you for your comment.

          • didgetmaster 2 days ago

            You could start by putting a link to your projects or blogs in your HN profile.

            • hnarayanan 2 days ago

              Please share some of your tools.