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Work at a B2B services firm for a while. You'll get exposure to hundreds of businesses over a few years. I've seen industry outsiders solve a nonexistent probl

Work at a B2B services firm for a while. You'll get exposure to hundreds of businesses over a few years. I've seen industry outsiders solve a nonexistent problem, or fail to solve an existing problem without realizing it, or solve a non-generalized version of a problem that only applies to one company, or solve a problem excel solves better, or solve a problem which was just a bad (now permanent) process. The list goes on. However it happens, you greatly increase your chances of providing a valuable piece of software if you have exposure to not just a single business in an industry, but dozens of them.

techsin101 7y ago
what roles are best. I worked as dev once for b2b, never got to meet anyone but the kanban board.
- vb6lives 7y ago
  Product Manager will let you know what people are requesting but sometimes the requester is a clueless manager. Working tech support will tell you what real users are having trouble with and sometime they have really great ideas for features.
- HeyLaughingBoy 7y ago
  Being a dev is fine, but it usually means being in a small company. Alternatively, try to meet people in the company who aren't devs. Talk to sales, marketing, production, start small talk with who ever's in the breakroom, etc. Salespeople especially, love to talk :-)
- caseymarquis 7y ago
  Technical sales, project management, or engineering services. These are often combined. You want something that puts you on the ground with the customer. They'll start asking you for technology/software advice if they like you. It helps if you like traveling. Alternately, instead of starting a new career, you could ask friends and family for an introduction where they work and just go with your original idea of shadowing people. Most SMB owners I know would be happy to let a software developer analyze their process and brainstorm about useful software. Just give them a perpetual free license for helping you develop it. They might even be interested in helping you bootstrap it. Business owners are often looking for a good investment.

techsin101 7y ago

what roles are best. I worked as dev once for b2b, never got to meet anyone but the kanban board.

vb6lives 7y ago
Product Manager will let you know what people are requesting but sometimes the requester is a clueless manager. Working tech support will tell you what real users are having trouble with and sometime they have really great ideas for features.
HeyLaughingBoy 7y ago
Being a dev is fine, but it usually means being in a small company. Alternatively, try to meet people in the company who aren't devs. Talk to sales, marketing, production, start small talk with who ever's in the breakroom, etc. Salespeople especially, love to talk :-)
caseymarquis 7y ago
Technical sales, project management, or engineering services. These are often combined. You want something that puts you on the ground with the customer. They'll start asking you for technology/software advice if they like you. It helps if you like traveling. Alternately, instead of starting a new career, you could ask friends and family for an introduction where they work and just go with your original idea of shadowing people. Most SMB owners I know would be happy to let a software developer analyze their process and brainstorm about useful software. Just give them a perpetual free license for helping you develop it. They might even be interested in helping you bootstrap it. Business owners are often looking for a good investment.