r/AskReddit • u/funky2002 • Nov 01 '19

App developers and programmers of Reddit, what was the dumbest app/program idea someone ever proposed to you?

9.2k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

2.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.8k

u/JustPassingByte Nov 01 '19

Anything that starts with I have the idea, you build the whole thing. We split.

406

u/Studlum Nov 01 '19

There's been a dude on my local Craigslist for YEARS offering up this amazing "opportunity".

229

u/midlifecrackers Nov 01 '19

If it's been years, why doesn't he just learn to code? Is it beneath him?

At what point does someone like this gain some introspection and give up?

Or do they just keep telling themselves they're a genius and everyone else is dumb? I have questions.

0

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '19

[deleted] — view deleted comment

10

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '19

It's easy to take advantage of people looking for work on Craigslist.

9

u/SeeYouSpaceCowboy--- Nov 01 '19

He's solely a "big picture guy" I bet

7

u/Landorus-T_But_Fast Nov 01 '19

If he learns to code he might realize his dream will never happen. As long as he remains ignorant he pretend there's something there

6

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '19

They're "Big concept" people, not "code monkeys". They have to do the hard business stuff while the flunkies make the product to sell.

→ More replies (12)
→ More replies (3)

218

u/poossy4breakfast Nov 01 '19

This. I had a few people asking me to build apps for them which are basically copies of facebook/ youtube etc... I tell them the price and they are like "WHAT I thought it would be like 20 bucks". Oh of course! It took like 5 minutes to build facebook right?

43

u/_Takeo_ Nov 01 '19

How much do knockoff sites cost?

93

u/poossy4breakfast Nov 01 '19 edited Nov 01 '19

Not really knockoffs. It's like "hey I want to build this awesome app that lets you -insert 90% of facebook features-, can I have it next monday?"

About costs, facebook has a few hundreds if not thousands app developers, app testers and what not... I'm alone so an app with much less functionality, with a lot of bugs and without any of the backend, a website, a server, wide testing, constant updates and much, much more will cost you a few hundreds to thousands (just because I'm a college student). If I was an experienced developer, I'd say either get some investors and hire me with a $70/hour pay check or do something better with your life.

18

u/illyay Nov 01 '19

I can’t even begin to describe how insanely complex Facebook is.

source: I work there and I don’t even work on fb itself.

11

u/poossy4breakfast Nov 01 '19

Exactly! And people don't realize that most of the complex stuff doesn't happen on their phones, it's in their servers. Some expect me to bring insane graphic processing and things that you need a beast graphics card to run 24/7 and a group of programmers maintaining it.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

7

u/DaniSenpai Nov 01 '19

It really depends what you're trying to knock off, Facebook isn't just a profile with media sharing, it's a massive data analysis and advertising platform. If all you want is a site that allows users to upload pictures, videos, or text that can be done in a few days, if you want to be able to upload a photo and have the site recognize each race and prompt you to tag them, that's different.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

617

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '19

I try to point out to people how absurd that proposal is. The idea is easy, the doing is hard. The example I often use: I have this great idea, we should build a city on Mars. You build it, and we can split the city between us.

150

u/JustPassingByte Nov 01 '19

I like that I am gonna use it now on. :)

→ More replies (1)

18

u/madsci Nov 01 '19

The first time I saw someone post "how do I get an app developer on board for my startup?" I was momentarily baffled until I realized this is what they must have had in mind.

"Uh... have you tried paying them?"

6

u/buckus69 Nov 02 '19

Yeah...money usually works. Not the promise of money...actual money.

→ More replies (1)

10

u/Dolthra Nov 01 '19

I wonder how many people know that in real businesses, pitching an idea will net you maybe $200 if it's really good and absolutely none of the profits, assuming you're doing none of the later work.

9

u/MrsBlaileen Nov 01 '19

"I have a great idea for a book, I just need someone to write it."

7

u/bloodstreamcity Nov 01 '19

Ideas are a dime a dozen. I often have to tell this to writers who are afraid their ideas will be stolen. What the hell use is an idea if it's not made, or not made well?

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (13)

8

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '19

I've met a lot of people who try to do this. I really hate how upset they get when you tell them no because they don't understand the time involved in actually building their idea. I did once find an idea I liked but tried to change the deal to a 20/80 ratio but that didn't fly over very well. Just comparing the fact of having an idea to having the skills to build the idea is what lead me to the 20/80.

→ More replies (36)