

Show HN: Get coached by developers for free - ab_thomas
http://www.askadev.com

======
_almosnow
"Stop wasting hours searching Stackoverflow..."

Terrible choice for an opening phrase to your website. You are putting
yourself in a position against SO which IMHO is one of the few websites that
are actually really helpful for the community (definitely not a waste of
time).

My honest advice, don't get cocky... at least not so early.

~~~
ab_thomas
That comes from months of research including customer discovery interviews.
It's a fact that over 90% of new coders waste hours on Stackoverflow searching
for answers.

~~~
chuckcode
I'm sure that a lot of people spend a lot of time reading through
Stackoverflow's answers. Not sure you're taking the parent comment to heart
when you classify that time as wasted. Stackoverflow might not be the optimal
solution for finding answers but it certainly adds enough value to the
community that they deserves some respect for their approach.

~~~
ab_thomas
It can be a useful resource but not for new coders.

~~~
eglover
This. The SO community is not very open to newbies and it's very difficult to
get a well thought out answer that teaches the issue. Someone asks a simple
question and you get a link to a Google search or some sample code that
couldn't possibly make sense to the person asking.

Maybe this is natural to answering such questions on forums or maybe it's the
results of everyone fighting for points and upvotes. My money is on the
latter.

Point is there is MUCH greater value in talking directly to an expert so long
as you can get in touch with one which is a tough nut to crack.

~~~
_almosnow
That is because 99% of newbie questions are already answered... and when
someone just asks the same "what is a pointer in C" question, without even
taking time to search if it's already been answered, it pisses off the
community and they get negative feedback as a result.

I don't think a one-to-one chat with an experienced developer is a better
solution for noobs, quite the contrary. But time will tell, maybe the guys who
sign-up to coach on askadev will never get tired to explain the difference
between an integer and a float type over and over and over again.

~~~
eglover
This is something an intermediate who shouldn't really be answering questions
would say.

99%? Not even close. A large majority of unanswered/downvoted questions are
HARD questions that people can't answer themselves and opt instead to simply
post the first link they found after copying/pasting the question into Google.

Often times when answers aren't accepted because they suck and the poster asks
further questions or says they're looking for something more that leads to
more downvotes because that's what pisses of the community. Being told they
aren't good teachers.

Most people answering questions on Stack Overflow are average students who
just want the points by again, posting what they find on Google (which RARELY
answers the question) or posting a link to a library without explaining a
thing which is also massively unhelpful.

Teachers are what's needed. Not brats on forums.

~~~
ab_thomas
Exactly - well said.

------
girinambari
I personally had situations where people mix up mentoring with do my work. I
helped lot of people, out of those only one really worked as mentor-mentee,
all others are like please have access to my computer and do it for me. I
think your website will address that issue, where I can simply say, this is
how it works, go and try.

But, if it is FREE service, users may misuse (or) mentors may not spend enough
time. There should be some benefit structure. When I say benefit, it doesn't
mean monetary, it could be anything else. Look at StackOverflow, no monetary
benefit, but people go there because "reputation", which in-directly helps in
lot of ways. Good luck!

~~~
ab_thomas
Thanks for your feedback. At this point mentors will have to manage their own
time.

------
unwind
The landing page is very ... thin in terms of actually communicating what _it
means_ to "connect" or be "coached".

Is this a 1:1 real-time (textual) chat? Voide chat? Another forum like Stack
Overflow (which, btw, is spelled just so, not as a single word)? A video
conferencing system? E-mail-based service to let "developers" answer questions
that way?

In effect, it tells me too little, which causes me to skip it.

~~~
ab_thomas
It's a private messaging platform. You contact a developer or another student
if you like and decide between the two of you how you facilitate a session.

------
HeyLaughingBoy
I think this would be far more useful if it were based on other forms of
domain knowledge. As the landing page shows, StackOverflow, etc. already
exist. There's _tons_ of online help for software development already.

What is lacking is one-on-one assistance/short term consulting for software
developers/entrepreneurs in other knowledge areas related to business
development. Take the StackExchange concept to a new level with individualized
assistance.

Have an idea for a web app based on snow removal? Hook up with an expert in
the field for a 30 minute tutorial on if your idea has legs, what you need to
know and where to start. Want to explore adding operator interfaces to your
Lean Manufacturing software but don't know how to design/manufacture hardware
on a small scale? Find an expert who can give you an overview of what you need
to know to get started and perhaps contacts that can take you further.

I'm throwing ideas out there based on actual needs I've seen people on various
software forums having, and I think there is a real need for a service like
this. And it's probably a lot more profitable than Founder Dating :-)

~~~
ab_thomas
They're good ideas there's several sites out there that cater for them. We
don't want to charge. What's been built is from many customer segment
interviews. We'll be improving on it over time of course.

------
erjiang
I'll tell you what I hope this can be:

I and co-workers often need domain-specific help, usually with annoying or
complex tools. I could spend a few hours doing the research, or I could pay a
chunk of money for 30 min. of someone's time to walk me through.

Example: I need someone to help me fix some build config problems in Xcode.
I'll pay for an Xcode expert to spend 30 min. and walk me through fixing it
over Hangouts.

Example 2: I have a lot of experience with autotools[0]. I'd be happy to sign
up as an autotools expert and either help people get started with autotools or
get people unstuck on autotools problems for a bit of cash. Ideally I'd just
set a price, add some tools to my profile, and have money start rolling in.

askadev.com seems close, but right now it feels like it's focused on fuzzier
mentoring help between junior and senior devs instead of trading domain-
specific knowledge. It might be as simple as just marketing towards that a
little more.

[0] I know nothing about autotools, actually.

~~~
lbotos
This is definitely what AirPair is trying to build. Check that out. (Not
affiliated, but have used them before.)

~~~
ab_thomas
I completely understand why you'd think that but we're not trying to be
AirPair. We're a match making service and that's it. It's up to users how they
connect with each whether it's through PM, voice, video etc.

------
joebo
Wording suggestion - I had no idea what this phrase meant: "You have at least
1 year commercial XP or skills that match." After about 2 minutes of thought I
deduced that it must mean experience. I first thought it meant XP = Extreme
Programming

------
conradk
What's in it for developers who give their time to people not willing to pay?
As I understand, this platform is just a chat between people, no mention of
payments at all.

Sure, it's nice to give time, but giving time privately for only one person to
see seems less interesting than answering stuff on SO (or similar dev focused
sites) where everyone benefits, not just one person.

------
anvildoc
I would be interested in seeing this also emphasize skills beyond "languages".
For me, I know a lot of my skills are more around design and soft skills -- I
would love to be able to advice a developer on how to handle a problematic
product manager, or how to design a system. I tried to put that in my profile,
I'll see if I get a bite ;]

~~~
ab_thomas
That's great! Please do add any tags you want. Maybe we should change
languages to skills - What do think?

------
iamthepieman
This seems like it could be useful. If I'm not getting answers from
stackoverflow or my questions don't really fit within the Q&A framework of
other sites then I likely have a very specific problem or concept I am trying
to get a handle on.

This doesn't seem to facilitate that kind of specificity. For instance, I have
a question about best practices for setting a mobile version of a desktop
single page application. As specific questions they vary from, "Should I
create a separate mobile site, splitting my codebase?" to, "Should I treat
tablets as desktops with touch events?" or, "Can I rely on testing tools and
emulators to test a mobile site or should I be testing on actual devices?"

I don't really want to search for people who claim they know css and
javascript and then have to go through a vetting process to determine if they
can actually help me.

~~~
ab_thomas
The focus of this version is on coders finding mentors and pairing partners.
The USP isn't nailed down but we'll make this clearer on the landing page.

------
joshka
Have you got funnel metrics on how many people get turned away at the signup
screen?

I feel that the site doesn't hit the threshold where I feel the need to sign
up for this by the point where you're asking for my details.

~~~
ab_thomas
We're well into 5 figures of unique visitors.

------
primitivesuave
There's really not that much information about the service, which will
immediately deter users who want to know if this is a tool worth exploring
before investing the time to explore it. The [last YC startup
class]([http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec07/](http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec07/))
is a great resource for improving this.

Also, in this age of hackers and god particles, you _really_ should use SSL
for apps like this.

~~~
jfaucett
my thoughts exactly. My UX:

first thought - looks nice, ok so, I clicked on "I can help", which is just
signup, ok well I want to know what I'm signing up for, do I earn money
helping others, is it a time donation thing? so then I clicked on "about"
which tells me nothing, then I just went away.

I think the idea is interesting and with some more details I would have
probably signed up. Also the "You believe in best practices." was kind of odd
to me. I dunno if anyone else thinks this way though, but I don't believe in
best practices, I do believe you should know the best practices for your field
and understand them, so you know when to apply them and when not to.

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
There are lots of small weirdnesses scattered around a website which doesn't
really have much detail.

It's a good idea - I was thinking open code review would be a super useful
thing for many people - but a demo of how it works in practice would be worth
a thousand XP points.

I'd be deeply reassured if there was explicit support for the Hacker School
Social Rules.

------
atmosx
Is this going to be a paying service?

I'm not a professional developer, I often have design-related questions (e.g.
what's the best approach to create an app which supports modules - as in code
that changed models/views/controllers - a-la wordpress using Sinatra or
Rails?).

Can this website help me connect with _more experienced_ developers? Is it
only for professionals?

------
rip747
the problem with services like this is that once that issue is resolved, where
is it going to be documented? I highly doubt that someone is going to take the
time to enter in the question and solution somewhere for all to reference
should they have the issue.

[http://xkcd.com/979/](http://xkcd.com/979/)

~~~
ab_thomas
The 1st step is to match people up. Documentation can come later.

~~~
rip747
that's the problem. later never happens. with SO the conversation becomes the
documentation.

~~~
ab_thomas
We're not trying to be SO. There no "documenting" feature in our roadmap, I
should have said that.

~~~
rip747
"There no "documenting" feature in our roadmap"

how is this better then SO?

at least [http://www.airpair.com/](http://www.airpair.com/) puts up their
videos for free ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6ZQp3RdEU_9kFNrRB-
rIQ](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6ZQp3RdEU_9kFNrRB-rIQ)) for all to
see. You might want to consider that

------
oddtarball
The sign up page isn't even HTTPS.

Really guys? C'mon

------
thoughtpalette
I think it's a great idea and will probably attract those devs who contribute
on StackOverflow just to give back to the community.

That mustache is amazing as well.

~~~
ab_thomas
Thanks. It will attract those who spend time over genuine answers and not
those gameing the SO system for points.

Power users win a mustache delivered by a founder :).

~~~
thoughtpalette
Yes! I think that's the gist of what I was getting at. People who genuinely
care about helping others and (typically) have a great time doing it.

------
joekinley
Why should I as a developer use your service over, say, Toptal, where I can
get paid for the same service? What's your USP? Where is your advantage?

~~~
ab_thomas
From many interviews with potential users and beta users we know Student Users
need lots of ways to connect with help. Of course, we're in the early stages
so the USP isn't nailed down but it's been built upon the results of the
interviews. It's definitely free though, so if you want to get paid to help
people that's cool this isn't a useful service for you to provide your
expertise through.

------
S4M
I subscribe as a mentor, and then I realized that I could do with a mentor in
Common Lisp or Assembly, but then I was unable to change my status.

------
kylelibra
Can someone provide details on pricing?

~~~
ab_thomas
It's free. Learning should be free so we're counting on people offering their
time.

------
Siecje
Why not just have a link to your twitter with _target="blank"?

------
Siecje
What does the interface look like while mentoring?

~~~
ab_thomas
We're a match making service and that's it - profiles and messaging like
Linkedin I guess. It's up to users how they connect with each whether it's
through PM, voice, video etc.

------
adpirz
Simple request: filter by student / helper.

~~~
ab_thomas
It's on our list : )

------
onion2k
Clickable link: [http://www.askadev.com/](http://www.askadev.com/)

~~~
ab_thomas
I couldn't make the link clickable. I tried yesterday, waited 24 hrs and still
the same issue. Thanks for this.

~~~
spindritf
You can either post a link, or text. You could have just posted a link to the
announcement on your site.

