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Thanks for the reply zipop I really appreciate the other perspective. That said, you said some things in your response that make me think that the way I wrote m

Thanks for the reply zipop I really appreciate the other perspective. That said, you said some things in your response that make me think that the way I wrote my post may have lead you to misinterpret the point I was trying to make. Sorry about that, let me try to rephrase slightly. To be clear: I know how tough it is to teach yourself how to code. When I was teaching myself as a kid there was no StackOverflow, no Code Academy, and no W3Schools. It was just me and my programming book, and either I figured out the problem for myself or I had to give up. It was really hard. The point I was trying to make wasn't that you could become a master engineer in 6 months. That's absolutely untrue. The point I was trying to make is that you can teach yourself enough code in 6 months to build SOMETHING, to move yourself along far enough to get to the next level. I know this is possible because I've seen people do it. One of my best friends from school went from not knowing a how to write a single line of code to being the lead technical founder on a YC company in less than a year. The real point here is that it's very easy to tell yourself something is too hard, and that you don't have enough time to learn it when that's really just a personal constraint. The point is that it's easy to get distracted doing things with short term rewards (going to events) rather than doing things with rewards that are played out over the long term (building skill). It's more written as a way to shift perspective than anything else. Again thanks for the response, hopefully that cleared it up a little bit. EDIT: Original post is here if you missed it: http://danshipper.com/the-now-syndrome http://danshipper.com/the-now-syndrome

jerf 14y ago
I read it as coding just being a particular example. The argument works equally well for a pure-tech founder who needs to pick up some marketing to take his project to the next level.
- dshipper 14y ago
  That's absolutely the way it was meant to be read.
voyou 14y ago
"You can teach yourself enough code in 6 months to build SOMETHING, to move yourself along far enough to get to the next level." What is "the next level" in this case, though? Is the idea that if you can slap together a proof of concept it will be easier to find more experienced coders, and then you can stop learning to code and go back to being a non-technical partner? Or is the idea to continue coding after the six months? Because the latter seems like a bad idea to me - if someone doesn't want to code, and they have other skills which coders may not have, it makes more sense for them to focus on these other skills; if learning to code helps them get to a place where they can use their non-coding skills, fine.
ebbv 14y ago
Not everybody can learn to code -- even "basic" stuff like a blog -- even though the tools now are better than ever.* More importantly, not everyone should learn to code. Some people who teach themselves do so very poorly, then cause more trouble than if they had just left it up to someone who is better at it in the first place. * - This is always true at any point in history, so it's a pretty meaningless point.
- scott_s 14y ago
  Not everybody can learn to code While I know that many programmers have this attitude, I have not seen any evidence for it. Nor have I heard of any attempts to verify it. Certainly many people don't care enough to learn to code. But that's a different point that one of aptitude, which implies that programmers are a special breed. That's an attitude that I reject.
  - j_baker 14y ago
    It's good that you're rejecting that attitude, but that doesn't necessarily invalidate the grandparent's point. Some people can't learn to code because their mind just doesn't work that way. Just like they probably have some skill that we probably can't learn because our minds don't work that way.
    - scott_s 14y ago
      Some people can't learn to code because their mind just doesn't work that way. That very assertion is what I am saying is false. That is a belief you have about how our minds work. I have not seen evidence for it.
      - j_baker 14y ago
        Want to see evidence? 1. Go to a mental hospital. 2. Find the most insane person there. 3. Teach them how to code. Once you've done that, I will grant you that anyone can learn to code.
zipop 14y ago
Point well taken. I will take encouragement from it. Thanks.

jerf 14y ago

I read it as coding just being a particular example. The argument works equally well for a pure-tech founder who needs to pick up some marketing to take his project to the next level.

dshipper 14y ago
That's absolutely the way it was meant to be read.

voyou 14y ago

"You can teach yourself enough code in 6 months to build SOMETHING, to move yourself along far enough to get to the next level." What is "the next level" in this case, though? Is the idea that if you can slap together a proof of concept it will be easier to find more experienced coders, and then you can stop learning to code and go back to being a non-technical partner? Or is the idea to continue coding after the six months? Because the latter seems like a bad idea to me - if someone doesn't want to code, and they have other skills which coders may not have, it makes more sense for them to focus on these other skills; if learning to code helps them get to a place where they can use their non-coding skills, fine.

ebbv 14y ago

Not everybody can learn to code -- even "basic" stuff like a blog -- even though the tools now are better than ever.* More importantly, not everyone should learn to code. Some people who teach themselves do so very poorly, then cause more trouble than if they had just left it up to someone who is better at it in the first place. * - This is always true at any point in history, so it's a pretty meaningless point.

scott_s 14y ago
Not everybody can learn to code While I know that many programmers have this attitude, I have not seen any evidence for it. Nor have I heard of any attempts to verify it. Certainly many people don't care enough to learn to code. But that's a different point that one of aptitude, which implies that programmers are a special breed. That's an attitude that I reject.
- j_baker 14y ago
  It's good that you're rejecting that attitude, but that doesn't necessarily invalidate the grandparent's point. Some people can't learn to code because their mind just doesn't work that way. Just like they probably have some skill that we probably can't learn because our minds don't work that way.
  - scott_s 14y ago
    Some people can't learn to code because their mind just doesn't work that way. That very assertion is what I am saying is false. That is a belief you have about how our minds work. I have not seen evidence for it.
    - j_baker 14y ago
      Want to see evidence? 1. Go to a mental hospital. 2. Find the most insane person there. 3. Teach them how to code. Once you've done that, I will grant you that anyone can learn to code.

zipop 14y ago

Point well taken. I will take encouragement from it. Thanks.