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Any good automation ideas?

Im a frontend developer but got started doing QA automation and have been thinking a lot about what opportunities there might be to start a business that involved writing custom automation software for non-testing purposes. Right now there's a lot of buzz around RPA (robotic process automation) where businesses automate repetitive tasks their employees do like data entry.

I can either try to compete with the giants in the RPA field by building my own alternative (probably an electron app), or target smaller businesses and offer to automate work that they pay low-level employees for and be a kind of automation consultant.

Another thing is mobile phone automation. I've managed to figure out how to automate anything on a mobile phone using Appium . I recently tested this by automating my instagram app on iOS and have gained 500 new followers in a week (rate limiting is much less strict using the app than automating the IG website). In the past, I automated work my gf had to do as an intern where she had a bunch of screenshots of IG profiles she needed to visit, get their emails and ig profile info and put them in a spreadsheet.

So I feel like there must be some earning potential here relating to automation but I'm having trouble coming up with a concrete idea that could be profitable.

Has anyone run an indie business relating to automation? Any ideas?

  1. 1

    Let me know if you want to collaborate on the automated timesheets idea!

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    I'm trying to think of something. I'm a product designer...I think maybe timesheets? Automating those perhaps?

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