Just a thought, but why not connect with a few folks on the monthly HN Seeking Work thread? Look for someone close to your area of interest then get their feed

Just a thought, but why not connect with a few folks on the monthly HN Seeking Work thread? Look for someone close to your area of interest then get their feedback. Also, I suggest looking at folks outside your area of expertise as many tech areas tend to bleed together. Be up front about the request and make sure to get an NDA signed. You'd be suprised at how many people will happily spend 30mins-1hr with you just to chat and give advice (probably for free!). A second thought, maybe HN can have a monthly "Let me help you with..." thread where people just post their core skill set for others to leverage. As for me, I am not a programmer but am very fluent in infrastructure architecture. I can speak days/weeks on servers, networking, storage, virtualization, operating systems, etc. Always happy to chat with people, understand their problems, and answer questions relative to my area of expertise.