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> If someone was going to be really good at programming they would have found it on their own. Then if you go look at the bios of successful founders this is in
by jfarmer 13y ago
> If someone was going to be really good at programming they would have found it on their own. Then if you go look at the bios of successful founders this is invariably the case, they were all hacking on computers at age 13.
I am by most standards a successful founder. I was not hacking on computers at age 13. Why not? My family could not afford a computer at age 13. I got my first computer at 15-16 by essentially fishing it out of a garbage can.
How long did it take me to write my first C program? About a year. Why? Because I was the only person in my (very, very small) hometown who had any affinity or interest in computers in general, let alone programming in particular.
That is why that statement "reeks of privilege."
- Tycho 13y agoThere doesn't seem to be a gender component in the situation you described.
- tptacek 13y agoNo, because he's using an example from his own experience to rebut Paul Graham's (partial) explanation of gender imbalance at startups.
- jfarmer 13y agoSo? I was telling a story from my personal experience to try to demonstrate how that statement (in isolation) reeks of privilege. It does not reek of male privilege, which I'm admittedly less sensitive to than class privilege. But imagine growing up surrounded by people telling you to "Stop with all that computer stuff. That's nerdy boy stuff. Boys won't like you if you're into that." Or parents who refuse to buy their daughter a computer for similar reasons. That is a story I've heard from plenty female engineers I know. Does that count? I was trying to make my point more relatable. Sorry.
- Tycho 13y agoBut if anything your own example seems to reaffirm pg's point. You fished a computer out of a garbage bin and therefore had some coding experience before university age. You found it on your own. PG observes that this is 'invariably' a quality of the most successful founders and therefore (presumably) one which he looks for in prospective founders.
- tptacek 13y agoOh for fuck's sake.
- jfarmer 13y agoYeah, I'm not going to play Calvinball with you. Sorry!
- Tycho 13y agoI guess it was a privilege arguing with you.
- jfarmer 13y agoTo be honest, I didn't realize we were arguing until it turned into this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y&t=1m18s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y&t=1m18s Before that I thought I was just sharing a personal story with you to illustrate someone else's point.
- hythloday 13y agoIf you really believe that, would you be neutral on a law that forbade boys under 18 from using a computer? By your hypothesis the ones who are destined to be successful will circumvent it without penalty.
- Tycho 13y agoWhat you mean like an actual privilege and not just an inconvenience?