
How I Built 180 Websites in 180 days and became a YC Fellowship Founder - jenniferDewalt
https://zube.io/blog/how-i-built-180-websites-in-180-days-and-became-a-yc-fellowship-founder/
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qrv3w
This is a really amazing endeavour! Great job! I really like Coded and Electro
Bounce. A couple questions: Could you provide some more details about
individual projects (frameworks used, any source info)? Also, how long on
average did you spend on each project? Finally, what's your favorite project?

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jenniferDewalt
Thank you! Electro bounce is one of my favorites as well :)

180 websites is mostly Rails backed. The first 68 pages are served out of the
public folder and almost everything else was done with Rails. The last week is
all done with Node.js.

YumHacker uses Rails as an API on the backend, and Backbone,js for the front
end.

Zube uses Node.js and Backbone.js.

Edit: Here's a blog post I wrote after finishing the 180 Websites project that
talks more about that. -
[http://blog.jenniferdewalt.com/post/62998082815/after-180-we...](http://blog.jenniferdewalt.com/post/62998082815/after-180-websites-
im-ready-to-start-the-rest-of)

~~~
qrv3w
Awesome, thanks for the link. I'm looking forward to looking at more of your
projects!

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jenniferDewalt
Hey everyone! I'm happy to answer any questions. AMA!

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redmaverick
Inspiring stuff!

What's your take on Jira? How is Zube different from others?

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jenniferDewalt
JIRA is a great tool but it's hard to set up and for small teams it can be
overkill. We built Zube to provide an Agile workflow right out of the box so
you can get up an running right away.

Zube is also deeply integrated with GitHub and everything is synced both ways
in real time. So even if some of your developers want to stay in GitHub,
everything is still up to date.

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cpr
To me, this two-way sync'ing is the killer feature of Zube (from my short
usage so far), along with its Trello-like card metaphor for issues as a value-
added layer.

Just having the real-time filtering on issues is a _huge_ win. Change a
filter, see your updated list. Excellent.

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jenniferDewalt
Right on!

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JonthueM
I am deeply encouraged by your article. Surprisingly! I was thinking of doing
the same thing prior to reading your article, which is, as part of my 100 day
of code challenge to build a website every day and GitHub it. I guess the
reason for my procrastination is being afraid of using GitHub, my lack of
javascript knowledge & I barely know any design. Your input is definitely
helpful! I really want to start being proficient in those areas mentioned.
Also what learning resource would you recommend for javascript front & back
end, web/application design, UX design and better grips on Github!

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fazkan
Hello, great job, I started following you first a few months back. My
questions are,A: if you had to start all over again, what would you do
differently. B: how did you decide on what to build each day in those 180
days. Last and this is the most important, I think learning by doing is the
best way, is there a way where your experiences could be optimized for a
newbie, where he/she could start from day one, build something and learn a
specific part of a technology, and all the way to the end.

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arvinsim
For someone who struggles with the design side of making websites, this is
inspirational. I guess the takeaway here is just to practice, practice,
practice.

~~~
jenniferDewalt
Thanks! Yes, repetition is super helpful. Before starting a new project, many
artists will go through a 'research' phase where they'll make quick iterations
of ideas over the course of days or weeks. That's part of where the idea for
the 180 Websites project came from.

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alexkwan
Congrats to your achievements, Jennifer. I heard of you previously from Pieter
Levels (12 startups in 12 months). You guys are my role models!

~~~
jenniferDewalt
Thank you! Pieter is awesome :)

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cosecantt
Great passion and commitment! I am curious how you became confident in
javascript and rails in a short period of time? Did you read books?

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jenniferDewalt
Thank you! I did a lot of Googling. Each day I would break down what I wanted
to do into small components and start researching. I used sites like Stack
Overflow, Mozilla Developer Network and CSSTricks to find answers and a lot of
trial and error to get things working. I also used Michael Hartl's Rails
Tutorial to get up and running with Rails.

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petepark
Thanks so much for sharing Jen. So inspiring!

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yishanl
This is super awesome and inspirational. What was the most frustrating
experience you had in your 180 day challenge?

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jenniferDewalt
During the project I had to travel from San Francisco to Pennsylvania for
family obligations. I managed to do a pretty good job of keeping my coding
schedule up while flying and spending time with my family, but I ended up
having to stay up pretty late to finish each day's website.

By the end of the trip I was really burnt out but I still needed to crank
something out on the flight home. I had an idea for a site where you could
enter a few hexadecimal color codes and the screen would transition between
them. It seemed totally easy in my sleep deprived state but when I started
working on it on the plane I totally floundered.

When I finally got back home to my apartment in SF, it was 9pm and I had
virtually nothing to to show for my day's work. Also, I was now freaking out.
I didn't know how I was going to be able to push up anything!

I took a look at what I originally wanted to do and what little I had done and
realized if I reigned in my scope a bit, I could get a website out before I
completely lost my mind. I pared it down to just two colors and cut out all
the bells and whistles and just barely managed to get it out the door. And
then I had a very, very nice sleep.

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yishanl
Cool, thanks Jennifer! That was some serious dedication, super admirable. :)

One more question, although I've already asked a lot of you. How did you make
sure you conceptually understood what you were learning at every stage, not
just simply taking code and just replacing bits of it here and there?

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jenniferDewalt
I had tried picking up textbooks and online courses before I started the 180
project and none of them stuck for me. While I could do the exercises, but I
never felt like I was understanding how to actually use the skills I was
learning.

With the 180 Websites project I was forced to figure out how to apply code to
make something function. I didn't always know exactly how things worked, but
by starting with small manageable tasks I was able to have a pretty good
understanding of what I was doing. Pushing forward, day by day, the things
that were a bit hazy started falling into place.

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RafiZ
This is truly an inspiring story, Jen! Kudos on the journey and all the best
with Zube.io

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jenniferDewalt
Thank you!

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idoivri
You're an inspiration.

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gyoza
What is a fellowship founder?

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jenniferDewalt
YC recently started a new program called YC Fellowship. We're in the second
cohort now. It's an 8 week program for early stage companies that you can
participate in remotely. They describe it as a lighter version of YC core.

You can read more about it here -
[https://fellowship.ycombinator.com](https://fellowship.ycombinator.com)

