I was hired on to a three person team of a startup. When I was hired the make-up of the company was like this: - Founder, the idea guy. He was technically comp

I was hired on to a three person team of a startup. When I was hired the make-up of the company was like this: - Founder, the idea guy. He was technically competent but by no means a programmer. He mainly handled all the sales an customer interactions. - 2 very excellent programmers. I was the fourth person to join the team. I had never been a programmer but had attended school with a CET major. So I had done some minimal programming. This was my first attempt at getting a full time, real world, kind of job. I was not hired on as a programmer, though in the interview I told them I was just trying to get my foot in the door and ultimately wanted to be a programmer. I was hired to handle customer support for their 30 plus customers around the world. First and foremost what I brought to the team was passion for the work. Aside from that, provided dedication and a technical skill set. It was a very technical product, so they needed someone who could understand it and who could also explain it in sometimes simpler terms to the customers. Over the years I worked very hard and received good reviews from customers. I made some mistakes and learned from them. As time progressed I took on more technical responsibilities while maintaining my role as the 'go to guy' for support. By the time the company was sold and changed hands I became a full fledged developer and relinquished my support responsibilities to the support department of the company that acquired us. Now I am an equal partner with the two developers from that venture in our own startup. We recently had a conversation about what each of us was bringing to the table. My two partners made it very clear, the reason they asked me to be involved was not because of my uber programming skills. These two guys are seasoned while I am still a beginner. They wanted my passion.