3 ms·

This is how everybody learns - you make something, see the flaws in the process or the outcome, and then iterate again to fix them. Your technical approach to i

by RyanZAG 13y ago

This is how everybody learns - you make something, see the flaws in the process or the outcome, and then iterate again to fix them. Your technical approach to it is perfect, just keep it up. However, you've missed the key point in the game - hustling. By the sound of it, you were not picking up a paycheck while doing this for 2 years. This is a major mistake. The product itself doesn't matter - if you're inexperienced the product is going to end up pretty bad, so the exact product you're building is largely irrelevant. The key is to hustle yourself into a position where someone is giving you money for you to learn. Late stage start-ups are usually perfect for this. You've wasted two years of potential income and fancy sounding positions for your CV, don't waste a third.

ddoolin 13y ago
I did this, and I wish I could encourage others to do the same. Honestly. I started completely at 20 and not even 7 months later I was getting paid above average in Seoul to do the same thing, basically. Except I had expert help whenever I needed it in the form of coworkers. I'd have to say that the two biggest factors contributing to this is that people like the OP probably don't know about opportunities available to them (though hard to imagine given the outlet used to express himself), and the general "5+ years of experience/ex-Googler" mentality really seem to discourage trying. Hell, I've gotten over a year of professional experience and sometimes I think I should just take an unpaid internship if I wanted to find a new job now...
ollerac 13y ago
I disagree with you that the product doesn't matter. I've worked at a few startups and it really matters if everyone can get on board with the vision of the company's leadership. It improves your concentration if you think you're actually making a positive difference in people's lives with every feature you develop or bug that you fix. And it improves team motivation and cohesion if you all think that what you're building is a really cool idea. TL;DR Adding a feature to a product that you don't care about is harder that adding a feature to a product that you do care about.
- semiel 13y ago
  It's a cost-benefit analysis. As a completely entry-level developer, I could a lot of time trying to find a company whose product I believe in that will hire more, or I could spend that same time working for whoever will cut me a paycheck, and be in a much better place to decide what I care about working on once I have a bit of actual experience and money in the bank. It would be lovely if you could just walk into a meaningful project that you care about, but that's not how it works in the current system.

by RyanZAG 13y ago

ddoolin 13y ago

I did this, and I wish I could encourage others to do the same. Honestly. I started completely at 20 and not even 7 months later I was getting paid above average in Seoul to do the same thing, basically. Except I had expert help whenever I needed it in the form of coworkers. I'd have to say that the two biggest factors contributing to this is that people like the OP probably don't know about opportunities available to them (though hard to imagine given the outlet used to express himself), and the general "5+ years of experience/ex-Googler" mentality really seem to discourage trying. Hell, I've gotten over a year of professional experience and sometimes I think I should just take an unpaid internship if I wanted to find a new job now...

ollerac 13y ago

I disagree with you that the product doesn't matter. I've worked at a few startups and it really matters if everyone can get on board with the vision of the company's leadership. It improves your concentration if you think you're actually making a positive difference in people's lives with every feature you develop or bug that you fix. And it improves team motivation and cohesion if you all think that what you're building is a really cool idea. TL;DR Adding a feature to a product that you don't care about is harder that adding a feature to a product that you do care about.

semiel 13y ago
It's a cost-benefit analysis. As a completely entry-level developer, I could a lot of time trying to find a company whose product I believe in that will hire more, or I could spend that same time working for whoever will cut me a paycheck, and be in a much better place to decide what I care about working on once I have a bit of actual experience and money in the bank. It would be lovely if you could just walk into a meaningful project that you care about, but that's not how it works in the current system.