

Ask HN: Developers: How do you explain to people what it is you do? - dclowd9901

I try to explain what I do to people in a way they can understand. Rather than go into rote jargon about writing code and making objects extensible, I tell them that I have puzzles and tell a computer how to solve them as efficiently as possible. I think that sometimes gets through, but I feel like it still misses the mark.&#60;p&#62;So how do you guys do it?
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chill1
I usually try to keep it short and simple at first: "I build education
software." If they show further interest by asking a follow up question, I get
a little more technical. I don't know why, but it continues to surprise me
just how few people know anything about how the internet (or computers) work.

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codegeek
if nothing, tell them "I build stuff that will change your life. So buy it
now!!"

Jokes apart, first explain a problem that they understand. If they get the
problem, _then_ tell them that you help solve that problem by [add whatever
here]. Simple.

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brk
"I work with venture-backed startups to develop new technologies".

Then, there are usually questions about some or all portions of that, "What's
a startup?", "What do you mean by venture-backed", etc.

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EnderMB
"I build websites".

I'm actually a developer for a full-service digital agency but when you get
into developer territory it's rare that the conversation will go any further
than "oh, that's cool".

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AtTheLast
I tell people I do user experience and user design for the web. Then follow
that up with a Facebook or Google related example of it.

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jamesjguthrie
Keep it simple, I build software for phones.

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shrughes
I like the way my father explained my job to a golfer we were playing with:
"He's a typist at a computer company."

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orenmazor
depends on who I'm talking to. for technical people I can tell the exact web
product I'm working on.

for grandparents and others, I "solve technical problems using a variety of
tools. kind of like an engineer would by first drawing schematics, and then
following them to construct a bridge"

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bazookaBen
i tell them "I make mobile games", in which case 99% of the time, they'll
bring up Angry Birds.

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piyushco
"I make Apps for android, iPhone"

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davidjnelson
"I write software".

