

Ask HN: How many non-developers (business) ppl teaching themselves how to code? - jayliew

How many non-developers are tired of not being able to find a technical co-founder and are determined to stitch something together with their own hands?<p>As a follow up to the real reason why I'm asking: I'm a developer bootstrapping a startup out of Hacker Dojo, and I was thinking of teaching a free class, which would basically be a "programming 101" for non-developers. Hacker Dojo has many free classes for all sorts of people, e.g. "design 101" for developers (who are usually not savvy about good design).
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jwhitlark
As an accountant who eventually became a developer, the hard part isn't
learning to code, it's all the related lore that causes problems. Version
control, shells and pipes, "scripting languages", (free) Unix, editors instead
of push button ide's, etc. If someone has had experience with a rigorous
field, writing code won't be hard to grasp, butthey won't even know the
questions to ask about the ancillary tools that are needed to be successful.
Have a 10 things to revisit as you learn about programming page, or something.

Most people could figure out that, say, a miner would need to know about
digging and shoring up dirt. That they might need to know about pumping water
isn't obvious until you've done it a few times.

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Rariel
I am a non-dev teaching myself to program and something like what you describe
would be great. Something for people who want to learn about the tech side but
aren't going hardcore with the self-teaching would probably be good as well--
meaning a class that teaches you enough to _understand_ what exactly your tech
co-founder does, will do, can do.

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noahth
Over the past year I've been slowly teaching myself python (mostly for stuff
related to my current job) and django (partly just for fun, partly in
preparation for the day when I'm not at said job, I suppose). Since I don't
have a strong, immediate and personal reason to hit it hard, I haven't been,
but I do try to write a little bit of code every day and learn something
meatier on a weekly basis.

While I'm sure that a beginner class would still have plenty of value for me,
I find that most beginner resources spend a lot of time on stuff that I'm
already comfortable with, and it's a pain to dig through to the part where
they start covering the topics I'm trying to learn atm. I don't suppose this
is a helpful suggestion for your current idea, but what would be most valuable
to me is some kind of mentor who could help me figure out what
topics/ideas/practices to learn next, where to find the right intermediate-
level resources, etc.

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porter
Yes, this is a great idea. But it should be an online course. I quit my
banking job of 5 years and have spent the past 9 months taking courses in
discrete math, algorithms and data structures, and computer organization. I
have also been teaching myself python/django and have built a prototype with
real alpha testers and a list of over 150 people interested in paying for my
product when it's completed. I have a good grasp on programming and CS
fundamentals, but could really use a course that teaches the basics of
software engineering principles, scaling issues, payments processing, and
version control with git. Basically a crash course in everything a junior
software developer will encounter when climbing the learning curve at his
first job at a startup.

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knes
Marketing guy here with good skills in design.

Got tired of looking for developers to help me with my ideas so I started
teaching myself Python. I already know a lot of stuff about php/html/css/etc.
Even though I had already a quite good understanding of the developers job it
opened up my mind even more.

All in all, it's a great experience and I can now hack something together to
have a "working prototype" of my ideas :)

Tl;dr Python FTW

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mjs00
Great idea - I'd be interested. Also, to consider, (maybe echoing some of the
themes from other comments): setting up core deployment environment that
'works'. Often tiptoeing in, I get tripped up on some detail of config that is
obvious to the experienced. Also best way to connect for mentor help on-demand
for problems or design best practices.

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naithemilkman
I am teaching myself python/django. Started around January this year, released
www.sgelections2011.com about 2 weeks ago. Bring it on :)

P.S I'm actually looking for a Django Jedi Master to take my under his wing
for a bit. Think I got the basics down but lack a experienced eye to see that
obvious mistakes I'm making. Thanks!

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notahacker
I'm currently trying to combine learning to code with travelling the world. I
don't like making it easy for myself...

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hansy
Non-dev here going through the ropes with PHP and Javascript

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instakill
Me. RoR.

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bloggergirl
My partner re-taught himself to code for a hobby site called moodalytics.com.
(He used to develop back in the 90s but moved into management and user
experience, so he didn't keep those dev skills sharp.)

He taught himself to code not because he wants to be a developer. (He knows
how much work and talent that requires!) Rather, he built that site purely as
a way to attract developers to help him on a larger-scale product he's now
working on; he wanted to prove to developers that he wasn't going to sit idly
by making 'business decisions' while the developer slaved away at all the
seriously critical stuff.

