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20 years professional experience, almost 25 years programming in general. I would've attempted to build something cool instead of build stuff for other people.

20 years professional experience, almost 25 years programming in general. I would've attempted to build something cool instead of build stuff for other people. I realized very late in my career that there was more going on than the agency life - at one point I was even chasing the big agencies. I built fun little joke sites, but never attempted to build something that could've been a business. Reading "Founders at Work" really opened my eyes to what I could've done back in the day -- and while it's not too late, it definitely feels like I missed out on a lot of opportunities.

zer00eyz 10y ago
I want you to erase the notion of "missed opportunities". Re wind the clock a scant 16 years. Linux was barely a thing, you were buying servers from sun, putting them in a cage to "start up". There wasn't really a way to be technical and be "ramen profitable". Look at the environment now. You can start up a SaS business with the skills you have acquired, and probably what you spend a month on coffee from Starbucks, or a few lunches out. Just build something, then go build something else, keep building things till one of them starts to get traction, and then iterate on that... wash rinse repeat. Will you get rich? who knows? But the more arrows you shoot, the more likely you are to hit a target. It has never been easier to just do something than it is today.
- cylinder 10y ago
  As an entrepreneur, all I hear from that is "less barriers to entry," which is what I don't want. Frankly, it was easier back then for someone with only light technically skills such as myself. The web was a lot less crowded, I could get attention for new projects so easily. E-commerce was a breeze. The internet in general is becoming less of a frontier, so yes highly specialized folks have more opportunities but not primary industry guys. Also, the flood of VC into ridiculous startups has distorted the playing field.

zer00eyz 10y ago

I want you to erase the notion of "missed opportunities". Re wind the clock a scant 16 years. Linux was barely a thing, you were buying servers from sun, putting them in a cage to "start up". There wasn't really a way to be technical and be "ramen profitable". Look at the environment now. You can start up a SaS business with the skills you have acquired, and probably what you spend a month on coffee from Starbucks, or a few lunches out. Just build something, then go build something else, keep building things till one of them starts to get traction, and then iterate on that... wash rinse repeat. Will you get rich? who knows? But the more arrows you shoot, the more likely you are to hit a target. It has never been easier to just do something than it is today.

cylinder 10y ago
As an entrepreneur, all I hear from that is "less barriers to entry," which is what I don't want. Frankly, it was easier back then for someone with only light technically skills such as myself. The web was a lot less crowded, I could get attention for new projects so easily. E-commerce was a breeze. The internet in general is becoming less of a frontier, so yes highly specialized folks have more opportunities but not primary industry guys. Also, the flood of VC into ridiculous startups has distorted the playing field.