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Why not learn? "I can't code to save my life" -- this doesn't have to be a permanent condition. Unless someone's truly a moron, I don't think there are many p

by ctkrohn 18y ago

Why not learn? "I can't code to save my life" -- this doesn't have to be a permanent condition. Unless someone's truly a moron, I don't think there are many people who truly can't code, just like there aren't many people who can't learn to play a musical instrument or to write well or to play chess. Coding is a skill like any other. Since you have an interest in tech, give it a try. There are plenty of people on the Internet who are willing to help you out.

ashleyw 18y ago
I agree. Its not hard to get into web programming. Use a framework (CakePHP, Ruby on Rails, etc.) and learn the associated language as you go a long. I do have a programming history, but I learnt the basics of ruby and rails in a weekend! ;)
- bprater 18y ago
  Between getting into and becoming truly adept is a giant chasm. If you have a talent for design, step it up several notches. Great talent will seek you out.
  - mingyeow 18y ago
    agreed. there are no lack of great hackers looking for great partners. most people misunderstand their own lack of tenacity and good ideas for lack of good hackers
vaksel 18y ago
Ever hear of a phrase cost of opportunity?(Unless you are unemployed, chances are its a better financial decision to work and pay someone 20K to code a product, than spending that time learning and coding it yourself) + chances are the quality of code, a complete amateur creates will not be optimal.(full of bugs, not secure, with a very crappy design etc)
- cstejerean 18y ago
  If you just need to build some special purpose application sure, it's better to hire a specialist to do it for you. But if you're talking about starting a business it pays to either learn how to develop software yourself or get a partner that can do it. Trying to outsource the core of your business is just nuts. While the initial code you write might not be optimal you'll at least understand the code, have a clue what to do when something goes wrong and be better equipped to hire technical talent when the time comes.
  - vaksel 18y ago
    You are approaching this as a hacker, you know your stuff. Chances are you can build a _____ clone in a weekend. While in that same time the non-hacker who is trying to learn, will achieve at most a hello world application. Lets face it, the web moves very fast, if you take an extra month to roll out, you increase the chances that another competitor will get into your space and will eat up all the market share, way before you even get your product launched. Ideas are not unique, if you have an idea chances are a hundred other people are already working on that same idea. So between hiring someone and having a product out in 3 months, and doing it yourself and learning and having it out in a year(if that)...I'd go with 3 months, each and every time. Nothing is stopping you from learning that same code while your app is being built by someone else. Should you know how to read code? Absolutely, but it takes that much less effort to learn how to read code, compared to writing it and figuring out the hundreds of different technologies. Lets face it, most of the stuff on the internet is not that innovative. Usually its just a mashup of existing tech/ideas...if that. So you really aren't giving away any state secrets to the people you outsource to. And as long as the company is in USA you have plenty of legal ammunition to prevent them from stealing your ideas. And maybe outsourcing your business is nuts, but at least when you outsource you have the option of actually getting your business off the ground. Instead of destining it to failure because you really didn't know what you were doing. As far as having a clue when something goes wrong, once again you are approaching this as a hacker. You know what to look for when code crashes. An amateur would be much more happier to call/email his development company and have them fix the problem, instead of reading through thousands lines of code to see what could it be, that went wrong. You do have something with technical talent, but you can always bullshit your way through that, by either hiring a recruitment company or having a few hackers recommend you some people.
hopeless 18y ago
Learning to code is one thing but learning to debug is something else. Even if you can figure out how to build something, it takes a certain tenacity and logical thinking to figure out how to solve a problem. Some people have it, some people don't and some just don't want to do it. Don't think that because you can get Hello World! working over the weekend that you're ready for the big idea!

by ctkrohn 18y ago

ashleyw 18y ago

I agree. Its not hard to get into web programming. Use a framework (CakePHP, Ruby on Rails, etc.) and learn the associated language as you go a long. I do have a programming history, but I learnt the basics of ruby and rails in a weekend! ;)

bprater 18y ago
Between getting into and becoming truly adept is a giant chasm. If you have a talent for design, step it up several notches. Great talent will seek you out.
- mingyeow 18y ago
  agreed. there are no lack of great hackers looking for great partners. most people misunderstand their own lack of tenacity and good ideas for lack of good hackers

vaksel 18y ago

Ever hear of a phrase cost of opportunity?(Unless you are unemployed, chances are its a better financial decision to work and pay someone 20K to code a product, than spending that time learning and coding it yourself) + chances are the quality of code, a complete amateur creates will not be optimal.(full of bugs, not secure, with a very crappy design etc)

cstejerean 18y ago
If you just need to build some special purpose application sure, it's better to hire a specialist to do it for you. But if you're talking about starting a business it pays to either learn how to develop software yourself or get a partner that can do it. Trying to outsource the core of your business is just nuts. While the initial code you write might not be optimal you'll at least understand the code, have a clue what to do when something goes wrong and be better equipped to hire technical talent when the time comes.
- vaksel 18y ago
  You are approaching this as a hacker, you know your stuff. Chances are you can build a _____ clone in a weekend. While in that same time the non-hacker who is trying to learn, will achieve at most a hello world application. Lets face it, the web moves very fast, if you take an extra month to roll out, you increase the chances that another competitor will get into your space and will eat up all the market share, way before you even get your product launched. Ideas are not unique, if you have an idea chances are a hundred other people are already working on that same idea. So between hiring someone and having a product out in 3 months, and doing it yourself and learning and having it out in a year(if that)...I'd go with 3 months, each and every time. Nothing is stopping you from learning that same code while your app is being built by someone else. Should you know how to read code? Absolutely, but it takes that much less effort to learn how to read code, compared to writing it and figuring out the hundreds of different technologies. Lets face it, most of the stuff on the internet is not that innovative. Usually its just a mashup of existing tech/ideas...if that. So you really aren't giving away any state secrets to the people you outsource to. And as long as the company is in USA you have plenty of legal ammunition to prevent them from stealing your ideas. And maybe outsourcing your business is nuts, but at least when you outsource you have the option of actually getting your business off the ground. Instead of destining it to failure because you really didn't know what you were doing. As far as having a clue when something goes wrong, once again you are approaching this as a hacker. You know what to look for when code crashes. An amateur would be much more happier to call/email his development company and have them fix the problem, instead of reading through thousands lines of code to see what could it be, that went wrong. You do have something with technical talent, but you can always bullshit your way through that, by either hiring a recruitment company or having a few hackers recommend you some people.

hopeless 18y ago

Learning to code is one thing but learning to debug is something else. Even if you can figure out how to build something, it takes a certain tenacity and logical thinking to figure out how to solve a problem. Some people have it, some people don't and some just don't want to do it. Don't think that because you can get Hello World! working over the weekend that you're ready for the big idea!