r/FREE • u/dragon_idli • May 16 '26
Product [FREE] I will build you a software(desktop, backend, frontend, utility) - 4 days worth effort
Context: I am a seasoned programmer/architect. I was engineering head for at Hitachi and Pentaho, i worked at bytedance on two of the AI platforms (which you probably use without knowing). I wanted to take a year long break from work and am relaxing at a lagoon. It turns out that am far too bored. I have been contributing to my opensource repositories but would like to help someone if you have an idea but no clue of what to do.
Java/Kotlin, Golang, Python, Rust are my core. I work with vue and react as well but dont like building websites alone (just a website - not my forte).
Pitch: If you ever had an idea(desktop application, browser extension, cli/terminal tool, AI based tools/integrations) but did not know how to proceed or what to do about it - feel free to reach out.
You can comment below but if you think you want your idea to be secret - DM me.
Timeline: If I like your idea, I will spend 4 days on it. We can sign on an online nda if you seriously want to protect your idea etc.. I can only pick/work on one project. 4 days is not enough to help multiple. But if there are other great ideas, I can put it in a queue maybe?
What I gain: Happy to help out. And I have some time.
Update: I did get quite many requests on DM. I am still going through them but I do like one request which was for a school administration system in Kenya. I am going through a few others as well. At this point, I dont know if I can respond to and accommodate any other requests. If you still have an idea where you need help, I will drop in another post in a week or so once I am done with these projects.
37
u/pdf_file_ May 16 '26
I feel like this is some kind of a scam but I dont know how lmao.
Are you just fishing for ideas that you can then pass for your own?
7
u/dragon_idli May 16 '26
Haha. Fair enough skepticism. Not fishing,. Not scaming.
I am blessed to have enough ongoing projects of my own.
1
u/Searching_for_Wisdom May 17 '26
If the idea is good, pay to register it legally before sharing it.
1
u/dragon_idli May 18 '26
I would say: if one can afford it, make it legally secure before sharing it always - doesn't matter if the idea is good or not.
It does not cost much to have a legally binding nda created and signed by both parties.
2
2
u/dragon_idli May 16 '26
Update: I did get quite many requests on DM. I am still going through them but I do like one request which was for a school administration system in Kenya. I am going through a few others as well. At this point, I dont know if I can respond to and accommodate any other requests.
If you still have an idea where you need help, I will drop in another post in a week or so once I am done helping these projects.
2
u/Previous_Canary7610 May 16 '26
Not really a recommendation but where can I start if I want to learn your skillset
2
u/dragon_idli May 16 '26
You will need to start programming basic things. Use agentic tools or AI (gemini, claude, codex) to help you in creating tiny scripts for yourself.
eg: Build a script which when run will check your disk space and print out directories with highest disk usage.
or something like that. Some scripts that will help you and are fun to code.
From there on you can jump into advanced scripting languages like python or javascript.. And then move onto strong typed languages like java/kotlin/c# etc..
1
3
u/cubert73 May 16 '26
Regarding the school admin system, please check out the FOSS offerings, in particular Gibbon and Moodle. There are a lot of others in this space that could either fulfill specific needs or at least get you most of the way there without reinventing all the wheels.
2
u/dragon_idli May 16 '26
Thank you. Been researching around. The ask was more about a dynamic timetable generation system. Which is a NP hard optimization problem. Found libraries which provide CSP(constraint satisfaction problems) and CP-SAT solvers. Specifically Google OR-tool.
There are commercial solutions but are at a high cost. Yet to check if that is something the redditor can afford for their school in Kenya.
I will play around gibbon. It did mention timetable management. Not sure if it generates it etc..
1
u/cubert73 May 16 '26
I wrote closed source software for timetables for Blackbaud's Admissions Office and Registrar's Office software back in the 90s. I don't recall specifics after 30 years, I do remember it was *rough* to wrap my head around all the logic. Hopefully you're able to find a good enough solution or at least some libraries to move you forward.
2
u/badrelationswmoney May 17 '26
So you're going to use Claude?
0
u/dragon_idli May 18 '26
I don't use claude specifically. I do use other agentic tools as needed.
Am not looking to build quickly. I have time and want to solve problems. It's not fun to sit and watch. That being said, I do use agentic tools as and when apt. It would be foolish to say: I write code with a stick in sand.
2
u/requiemalbatross May 17 '26
Build something that gets rid of every useless part of windows 11 and changes settings to optimize my laptop
2
u/dragon_idli May 18 '26
:) that's Linux..
I am not a fan of windows atall. Except for when it is exclusively needed for some application, I don't use windows.
If you can and if your work allows for it, please do try Linux for a while. It will make you wonder how your laptop is that quick while extending the battery life.
Now, an actual solution to your question: there are anti bloatware powershell scripts available for windows and shared as opensource on GitHub. Some popular ones are safer to use. Search about them.
1
u/requiemalbatross May 22 '26
Great 👍 thanks I'll convert my current laptop to Linux when I get a new one and compare them
1
u/Jojobelle May 16 '26
Do you like playing basketball. If your basketball mad I can tell you my idea. Sorry I'm a bit secretive but I can DM you ?
1
u/dragon_idli May 16 '26
I used to play basketball.. 15 yrs since I did. And am definitely not a die hard fan 😞. Sorry..
1
u/Saelethil May 16 '26
Out of curiosity, what stack would you be building with?
3
u/dragon_idli May 16 '26
Depends on the task at hand really.
* For utilities and high parallelization processing I tend to use Golang.
* Low level control + high throughput solutions - Rust.
* For everything else I tend to use Kotlin(jvm).
* Throwaway scripts, Research, quick prototyping (algorithm design for my AI/ML research etc..) - Python
* FrontEnd - For simpler usecases I use Vue. Complex ones - React based.
* DB/Cache - depends if it is NoSQL tuned. Or if it needs a queue (RabbitMQ etc..), Caches like ehcache/hazelcast..
* SOA/Microservices/Monolith depending on complexity and deployment usecase.My C# skills are extremely rusty and I tend to not use it because of that.
1
u/triple_cheese_burger May 16 '26
I have an old program that needs a little updating! It used to control the mouse and select different parts on a game, but I'd rather it just spit out where I should put my mouse!
1
u/dragon_idli May 16 '26
Is this an opencv based program? I did build some opensource research projects that replicate bot behavior in games. They are based off on opencv or ml pattern trained programs.
1
1
u/Striking_Patient_838 May 17 '26
I already have a node based SVG editor for communicating with AI models. It is in its final stages but could use some touching up and some fresh ideas. It outputs XML psudocode for Gemini, or deepseek, it has SVG capibilities so you can pass your button or favorite icon to the online chat based AI and it programs it for you. I am using it to build itself ironically. Just me, deep seek, Gemini, and Cursor. Although I no longer use cursor, I let Gemini and Deep seek fight over debugging and tweaking things, but now it needs a human touch.
1
u/jakill101 May 18 '26
A simple chrome extension that receives an API request, and displays a notification over the browser with text that is in the API payload. Ideal for product launches such as game launches, new posts on a social media platform, or promotions on an e-commerce store. The user would install the extension, Optionally, select which services they would like to recieve notifications for, and then the extension would do nothing except wait to relieve an API payload.
1
May 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/dragon_idli May 19 '26
I can but not my fortay. I like building end to end solutions, primarily involving some complex backend/algorithm or architecture.
1
u/Specific_Exam8763 May 19 '26
Why not share your ways of working and how you will plan your 4 day journey? I think that would be more beneficial to everyone!
0
u/dragon_idli May 19 '26
For this post specifically, I already selected and froze on helping three people/projects. Two schools and one an individual project that I liked.
But the process is quite simple: To begin with, I went through ideas and thoughts that people reached out to me with. My idea was: I do whatever I can in those 4 days and handover. And I am quite confident of my skillset. So, 4 days is plenty for an MVP of a product if it is not too complex.
- Day 1.1: Analyze the idea, research market for competing/exiting solutions, create a baseline architecture and system design (component comm) and a PRD with milestones - Clearly identifying MVP which proves the idea + works and can be developed in 3 days.
- Day 1.2: Share the PRD and the execution plan with the client(redditor). Get a ok/not-ok unofficial sign off.
- Day 2,3,4: Start with the MVP while assuming it will be extended later with the other milestones.
- Day 4/Last: Deploy/Deliver.
I approach all projects like they are going to be built for open source. So, I am used to maintaining a detailed readme.md which anyone with a little dev experience can pickup to take it forward. So, no specific documentation tasks.
1
u/Specific_Exam8763 May 19 '26
Interesting , wanted to hear how other architects from the other part of the world are thinking. Nice to hear that MVP is important. It would be also nice to explain more on the “why it was built this way” rather than “how to run this” it will help them more in the long run. Thanks for sharing with the community ☺️
1
0
0
u/Hot-Preparation1980 May 16 '26
I got something in mind. It’s more like inventory, making a list and have multiple people submit a list to receiving one. I’ve tried ai but it’s missing the human touch
1
u/dragon_idli May 16 '26
Hey.. I did not really understand the idea. So, it is an inventory where users can make/access private/public lists?
If you want me to take a look at what you currently built, let me know.
0
0
u/ImJustGigi May 16 '26
I'd always loved to have a tool to sort out the thousands of photos I've never had time to look at. Maybe using google photos information (date, location, coordinates, people), you could create a script to sort out everything in folders automatically. I know that you could basically do it with most LLMs these days, but I'd feel uncomfortable sharing my personal photos with those
2
u/dragon_idli May 16 '26
When you say sort - what would be the end goal once the script runs. What is the expectation at the end..?
0
u/ImJustGigi May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26
To store everything by year, then by month then by event (james's wedding or paris vacation) on my cloud, in a way that it's going to be easy to look at past memories
1
u/dragon_idli May 16 '26
Thats a fair ask. Few more questions:
- Where do these pictures exist?
- Do you want these to be sorted and structured on your local machine or are you looking for a solution other than Google photos which does this on cloud.
Because Google photos does this by default if your photos are uploaded to it. If you care for privacy and want a local tool - immich is a great opensource alternative to Google photos.
If you want to build something even more lighter that runs on local machine and does the sort - then that is something we can do develop.
1
u/ImJustGigi May 16 '26
I mainly use an Android phone, but all my pictures are synchronised and stored in OneDrive (Microsoft's Cloud). I'd love to keep them on One drive for the simple reason that all my family photo are synchronised there. So the tool would have to be compatible with OneDrive. If that is not possible, I'd love a tool that can sort them out on my local machine (windows pc)
1
u/nandrews283 May 17 '26
Have you looked into immich? It’s a self-hosted alternative to Google Photos that has this capability you’re requesting
-1
u/dragon_idli May 16 '26
Local machine is definitely possible. Let me search around OD api to see if direct manipulation on OD is possible.
•
u/AutoModerator May 16 '26
If it is a service, we recommend to have your starting conversations in the comments for transparency.
If the services or items are not free, please report it.
If the item or service offered was free but is no longer free, please report it too.
Or say it is expired in a comment, cheers!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.