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I'm sorry, but this article is completely disingenuous, and will only set these 'non-techie' entrepreneurs up for more disappointment and frustration. I love th

I'm sorry, but this article is completely disingenuous, and will only set these 'non-techie' entrepreneurs up for more disappointment and frustration. I love the idea of 'walking a mile in our shoes' to better understand what it means to be a developer, but to suggest that a non-techie should learn to program, and that it could take 2 or 10 years, is the best way to guaruntee that not only is that dream never realized, but the whole world has passed them by in those 10 years and they've lost multiple opportunities that they could have capitalized on because they were so focused on learning how to program. Instead, build your network, and that goes for us developers as well. If you can't pick up the phone and call a mentor or at least email one, find one. If you don't have friends who are designers or are JS / CSS wizards (or backend if you are the frontend wiz), work on finding them. Contact people who's sites you admire, go to Meetups, etc.

rantfoil 17y ago
Disagree. I wrote this article because I kept meeting people who were non-technical but they were afraid of technology. If they learn to code, even if they don't do it well, they will be able to talk the same language and get people on their team to build what they want. I never said don't build your network. Just get some common ground first.
- dolinsky 17y ago
  I'm aware you didn't say don't build your network (you didn't specifically point to doing so, but it's not my intention to call you out for not doing so). I also like the idea of a non-technical person getting their feet wet as to shake the fear of technology. However, there is quite a difference between getting your feet wet and living in the ocean. I also couldn't disagree more about them learning to code equates to talking the same language. That's what I call "smart enough to be dangerous". It gives them a false sense of security and can lead to them making decisions up the business chain without consulting the development team because they now "speak our language". A non-technical person who doesn't have a true desire to become a developer shouldn't be dictating directly to a development team. That's why you have TPMs and Business Analysts (in larger companies) and in smaller teams hopefully you're using some sort of Agile process whereby business desires (stories) are translated into tasks for the dev team.

rantfoil 17y ago

Disagree. I wrote this article because I kept meeting people who were non-technical but they were afraid of technology. If they learn to code, even if they don't do it well, they will be able to talk the same language and get people on their team to build what they want. I never said don't build your network. Just get some common ground first.

dolinsky 17y ago
I'm aware you didn't say don't build your network (you didn't specifically point to doing so, but it's not my intention to call you out for not doing so). I also like the idea of a non-technical person getting their feet wet as to shake the fear of technology. However, there is quite a difference between getting your feet wet and living in the ocean. I also couldn't disagree more about them learning to code equates to talking the same language. That's what I call "smart enough to be dangerous". It gives them a false sense of security and can lead to them making decisions up the business chain without consulting the development team because they now "speak our language". A non-technical person who doesn't have a true desire to become a developer shouldn't be dictating directly to a development team. That's why you have TPMs and Business Analysts (in larger companies) and in smaller teams hopefully you're using some sort of Agile process whereby business desires (stories) are translated into tasks for the dev team.