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Great article. I don't think we can repeat this enough: Hard work != value. Clever code != value. Writing something hackers think is cool != value. Sometimes
by DanielBMarkham 15y ago
Great article. I don't think we can repeat this enough:
Hard work != value. Clever code != value. Writing something hackers think is cool != value.
Sometimes I think the hardest part of startups is re-aligning our value system from what we've learned in school and society into something that's actually useful for startups.
- timruffles 15y agoVery true. I've been thinking that although I started coding to make a business (tho I used to write QBasic games when I was 10 too), I developed a coder's value system. I can't seem to keep in mind that code is a means to an end!
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- speckledjim 15y agoI'd add "writing it in a new popular language" != value. The amount of time reinventing the wheel in hip new languages is truly staggering.
- stilist 15y agoOn the other hand, if nobody reinvents the wheel your language isn’t going to travel very far.
- speckledjim 15y agoCreating new languages doesn't create any value. It's not solving a problem. It's just solving the same problem that has already been solved countless times before.
- lg_ 15y agoYou clearly don't know much about programming languages.
- dorkitude 15y agoWhile it can of course get annoying, hipness should not be discarded so easily. I'd argue that the hipness of a language/tech stack is actually an important business consideration today, if only due to the short supply of good startup dev talent. Good developers have their pick of jobs right now. For instance, most of the PHP badasses I know are regularly turning down PHP work in favor of working with something newer. After all, the smartest people like to learn more than anything else.
- speckledjim 15y agoSure, although I'd still maintain there's a large amount of people who masturbate over the hippest new language features, without actually creating anything of worth. The smartest people get things done. Even if it's using some arcane rubbished old technology.
- fedd 15y ago> Writing something hackers think is cool != value unless your customers would be hackers (i am telling this to myself, to reassure myself)
- Vivtek 15y agoNo, this is absolutely true. Reputation among your customers is of incredible importance. Just don't forget to make them customers...