Ask HN: Ideas for projects like Etcd, traefik
I've always wanted to tackle some systems problems and develop an open source project similar to the likes of etcd, traefik, etc.
My goals are:
- Tackle distributed systems / systems problems, maybe something like a middleware which transparently solves a problem. Something like etcd, traefik, leveldb, redis, memcache, sqlite, etc.
- Grow my large-scale design skills
- Develop a small but thriving community of users who really enjoy the software
I understand there are lots of ideas for direct consumer facing software, but could anyone point me towards an unfulfilled niche in "distributed systems software"? Etcd is an implementation of Raft protocol. You can check research papers in distributed computing field. Could you please point me to any which don't have a turn-key solution like Etcd for Raft (and also have a need like consensus is a need for most distributed applications)? Could you imagine contributing to an existing project, one which already has a community?
Less glamorous than a greenfield thing but possibly helpful in order to gauge whether maintaining a project and its users would be something you actually enjoy in the long run. Yes, I've had the opportunity to contribute to some existing projects but I've been limited to making feature contributions. I feel like my "system design" skills don't get exercised as much which is why I wanted to go for a greenfield thing. Google doc like collaboration over webrtc, but synked with the backend. Currently have a prototype and a need for this.