

Why Programming Isn’t For Me - chamza
http://blog.goodlook.me/?p=1

======
mahmud
Programming isn't even for _programmers_ if they're running companies.

At some point you're gonna realize you're better off doing the stuff only you
can do, and delegating the rest, including your beloved coding.

\--

Update:

By the way, just looking at your site (<http://goodlook.me/index.html>) I
could see at least 5 different job descriptions that might be needed to make
this startup happen:

1) Backend developer, data wrangler, and statistician to do the ML stuff that
classifies "styles" based on user "tastes" (this one is a toughie, assuming
you're not cheating, even harder if you need to optimize both for user tastes
and your own revenue; cube the pain if you want to add inventory to the mix!)

2) UI designer to make it _good_. Fashion is one place where you will need
"taste". It's a trillion dollar industry that stands on one leg; hype.

3) Advertising sales manager to source new sponsors and vendors.

4) A communications manager to do media and PR, both old and new. Wearing
multiple hats writing blogs, guest articles, scoring appearances and
placements, dropping your media kit, etc.

5) Full time graphic editor and photoshop junkie. You can't just go from
stock-photo CD to web. The vendors will give you their own images, which might
not be good enough. The editor might wear several other hats as well, creating
and editing banner ads, and maintaining the assets for your brand and image.

Then there is you, doing the budget and making sure each and everyone has
enough to sustain a living. All while keeping an eye on the road ahead, doing
quantitative measurement of where things are heading, how the business is
changing, and constantly asking yourself whether you're dead yet or not.
Making decisions that might force your entire team into violent rebellion and
the undoing of months worth of work because circumstances have changed (or
better yet, _foreseeing_ this before it happens.)

Not to discourage you, just to give you a heads up that you will need to
really _polish_ your sales pitch and get all those people on board, for
equity.

You can assemble this team either via contacts and recommendations, or tap
into the hungry pool of recent grads and university students, but it will take
some time to find the real gems, and you will need to completely understand
your business inside out and bring out your own best, so others can see it.

------
scott_s
I think this sort of experience will actually make you a great business
oriented founder. Having tried it yourself, you understand the difficulties
behind implementing ideas that are clear in your mind.

Also, since you've done some real work yourself, you should be able to sniff-
out people who truly don't know what they're talking about.

------
Tichy
Are there people who don't find programming strenuous? I certainly don't enjoy
all aspects of programming.

Just wondering if this founder is giving up to easily. Of course just being
the boss and telling other people what to do is more fun than doing actual
work.

On the other hand, is "being a programmer" a bit like being a studio musician?
I never understood why anybody would want to be a studio musician rather than
writing their own songs, but I was told that some people prefer it that way.
In the same vein, maybe "real programmers" just enjoy programming whatever
they are being told to program? I don't want to diss "real programmers" - I
just struggle to find my niche in the work force, and it appears being a real
programmer is probably not it.

~~~
ant5
_Are there people who don't find programming strenuous? I certainly don't
enjoy all aspects of programming._

I love programming, but I still find it to be incredibly strenuous. I have to
work at the more difficult/novel problems for days, grinding through
particularly boring implementation details while maintaining a high level of
attention so that I don't miss anything important.

It's tiring, difficult, often mind-bending, and ultimately, very rewarding. It
sometimes seems to require the same amount of will-power I had to invest when
working long hours doing difficult manual labor.

 _Just wondering if this founder is giving up to easily. Of course just being
the boss and telling other people what to do is more fun than doing actual
work._

Yes. And yes. When it came time to do the actual work, he gave up.

 _On the other hand, is "being a programmer" a bit like being a studio
musician? I never understood why anybody would want to be a studio musician
rather than writing their own songs, but I was told that some people prefer it
that way. In the same vein, maybe "real programmers" just enjoy programming
whatever they are being told to program? I don't want to diss "real
programmers" - I just struggle to find my niche in the work force, and it
appears being a real programmer is probably not it._

What's a "real" programmer? Your niche in the work force is going to be
whatever you can make for yourself. If you want to lead projects (or a
company), then find a way to do so. If you don't want to take investment,
you'll have to invest your savings -- so find a high paying programming job to
help you meet your goal.

~~~
chamza
Its unfortunate that the only thing that is considered "actual work" is
programming. But I blame myself for not explaining more thoroughly in the
article.

I invite you to look at the startup itself and the video demo. I know I'm
asking a lot, but I think you should look more in to someones work before you
say that they gave up without putting in any actual work. The video
demonstrates a considerable part of the back-end being complete; I just need
assistance because I understand that I cannot manage a project like this on my
own.

------
JoeAltmaier
He recognizes it seems naieve now, good for him. Now how many of the rest of
us are still saying "When I get to that point, I'll become a great
marketeer/fundraiser/communicator by reading a couple of blogs"?

------
blaix
The reverse is also true for people who are passionate about programming and
want to turn that into a startup, assuming the marketing/business side of
things is just a small part, a stepping stone to get to that goal.

------
grammaton
Programming isn't for the author because they're obviously a business person
first and foremost. Suits and programmers are two different worlds, right down
to temperament and interests. You can tell just by looking at the language in
the article - how they wanted to "execute" on their idea, and how they "just
need to build the backend" which of course "wouldn't take much." To me it
sounds exactly like those shady craigslist "entrepeneurs," where the pitch is
that they've "done the hard part" and now all they need is "someone to do a
bit of coding for us." They even go so far as stating that they dream of
making sales calls and doing marketing.

quote: "But hacking, programming, whatever you want to call it—it’s not like
that. Its something you have to invest real time in to, and you have to have a
special drive to become good at it."

Gee, you think? Could that be why people go to college and get _degrees_ in
computer science?

Programming isn't for this person because they're just not a programmer,
period.

~~~
chamza
I hate putting people in to boxes. Youre the "programmer guy", and I'm the
"business guy". Thats the type of attitude that breeds "shady craigslist
entrepreneurs that you speak of. People who believe they have no part in
programming or designing, and are simply the "idea guys" and never dabble with
code.

Was it wrong of me to attempt to learn something even though I was a "business
guy" from the start? I tried programming, I wasn't successful at it, but I've
gained a greater appreciation for it. I also attempted designing, and I loved
it. I created a visually appealing website and actually learned a lot [by the
way, people go to college for graphic design degrees too, doesn't mean I had a
"special drive to become good at it"].

Theres nothing that will come out of dismissing someone as the "business-guy"
or the "programmer", we all have the potential to do so many other things, and
sometimes it works, but other times it doesnt. There's no harm in trying
though.

------
kes
I wonder if this isn't a more common problem than some hackers realize. We
don't all want to be CS and programming geniuses. We just want to know enough
to get by and prove that our ideas can work.

A common sentiment among this group is that 'idea people' are worthless unless
they can work hard at making that idea a reality. Unfortunately, not everyone
wants to dedicate themselves to the technical end of that process.

~~~
barrkel
Unfortunately, a large part of "idea" end of things is validating the concept
technically and communicating it with sufficient fidelity to be implemented.
That's much easier when you know what the construction entails, even if it
isn't you that's doing the work.

~~~
DilipJ
Yes, I agree. It is like trying to write the Great American Novel, without
knowing how to read or write English.

Now, you could get someone else to write it, and simply tell him the details
and plot points you want, but without knowing how to read English, how would
you know whether the story flowed right and was succinct?

------
texel
I originally got into programming not for the exact same reasons, but for
similar ones (reasons that were tangential to one of my primary interests). I
guess I found that I loved it just as much and just never stopped, even though
I never accomplished the original goal. These kinds of things can just as
often lead to happy accidents, I guess.

------
aditya42
Am I the only one who didn't like the usage of the words 'programmer' and
'hacker' as synonyms?

~~~
henrikschroder
No, you're not the only one. It does speak volumes about the programming skill
of the author.

~~~
jamaicahest
Or maybe the author has heard people like Thorvalds Linus and Eric Raymond
refer to themselves as hackers.

------
heseltine
I wonder if this wasn't the real problem:

"Now I just needed to build the backend, which wouldn’t take much because the
idea I had was built off of existing technology"

~~~
chamza
This was the problem. A naive approach to the scope of the work that goes into
this all.

------
Confusion
tl;dr version: if you're passionate about something, it's much easier to
invest the time necessary to become good at it. Conversely, when you're not
passionate about something, you'll probably never be as good as others.

