
Ask HN: Who have taken months off to learn coding and explore startup ideas? - tnsn
How did it go for you? Would you have any tips on how to make best use of it, e.g. any specific bootcamp to join? Thanks!
======
soneca
I have done it, but to learn to code and get a job, not explore startup ideas.
As a side-effect, I also happened to build two products as side-projects. So
my experience might help you on that too.

I was studying/coding between 6 and 8 hours each weekday for about 8 months
until I got my first job as a frontend web developer.

I am of the opinion that you should not buy any resource (video courses,
books) for learning to code until you can evaluate by yourself if it is worth
the money. Which means that you should only go for free resources in the very
beginning.

I spent the first 2 months solely on freeCodeCamp.org that I wholeheartedly
recommend. Then I moved on to creating my own projects based on official
documentation (I was mostly learning React, which has good documentation for
beginners) and any tutorials that I could find.

So, first tip: after an initial understanding of the fundamentals, use it to
build a project _before_ you are comfortable to do it. freeCodeCamp does a
good job at it, but I think you should think of projects yourself and go on to
build them, not just following your course projects.

Second tip: routine was very important for me. My wife would go to work, I
would go to study, it was my work. I had all the flexibility in the world
studying on my own, with free resources, from home. But I tried to follow work
hours mostly. Of course the flexibility is nice and I took advantage of that,
but those were the exception, not the rule.

About specific bootcamp, from an outside point of view, it seems that Lambda
School seems a good place to learn. But only if you want to learn to code to
get a job and start a career in software development.

If you are pretty sure that learning to code is a tool for building your own
product while exploring startup ideas a similar path to mine is good enough.
freeCodeCamp (or wherever site you prefer) to get the fundamentals and
building a lot of small projects (googling how to do it while doing it).

By the way, learning to code helps _a lot_ with exploring startup ideas. A
lot. Good luck!

------
codingdave
I have never specifically left a job to explore ideas. But when other reasons
drive me to leave a job, I typically do not find my next job immediately -- I
use it as an opportunity to explore options. If you have the means to take
time off between jobs, I highly recommend it, as it also is a nice mental
palate cleanser before you jump into something new.

~~~
JohnFen
I do exactly this as well.

Leaving an existing job (for any reason) is a moment of opportunity that
allows me to evaluate where I'm at in my life and what the best options for me
are.

Sometimes, it's getting another job. Sometimes, it's starting a new business.
It all depends.

> If you have the means to take time off between jobs, I highly recommend it

I think the importance of this is hard to overstate. I make sure that I set
aside enough money that I always have the financial means to take some time
without an income.

------
gwbas1c
I did it once. Here are the important things:

Screen the people you work with very closely. You might have the best startup
idea, but if they just can't do their part, the time you invest in them takes
away from your productivity. Sometimes someone you like is best in an unequal
relationship.

Pay close _personal_ attention to the business (selling) side earlier than you
want to. You don't have to sell your demo, like some people do, but you want
to get a good feel for how your product fits into the market before you spend
lots of time working on a dud.

In my case, I spent too much time working with someone who wasn't the right
person to work with. If I had spent some time early on selling, instead of
relying on my cofounder to do all the selling, my idea might have gone
somewhere. Ironically, I believe that, if I found customers before I partnered
with my co-founder, the business would have been a success.

------
gtsteve
I can't talk about coding boot camps but I can talk about making the most of
your time off.

I did something similar but I was already a programmer at the time. I did this
to learn about graphics programming. I had been programming for about 14 years
at this point but was totally unfamiliar with graphics programming.

I locked myself away in my room in a flatshare for about 6 weeks between
contracts and grinded my way through OpenGL tutorials and Khan Academy's maths
courses - eventually I threw together some simple scenes and made a simple
top-down 3d shooter.

It was very productive. My tips:

1\. Set a schedule and set a goal for the day i.e. to be able to explain
matrix transforms or fragment shaders to a beginner. I would do about 10 hours
a day with a 2 hour break.

2\. Use the time also to focus on good diet and exercise. The discipline here
will drive you to stick to the schedule. If you drink alcohol or do
recreational drugs, take this as an opportunity to abstain. This is also an
opportunity to abstain from anything else you feel is letting you down, such
as excessive gaming (not a problem I have personally but many feel they do).

3\. Have an end goal for the entire session, - in my case I wanted to make a
simple 3d platformer but it ended up looking a bit more like the original GTA
games

4\. Keep a journal with your observations, about what you're learning but also
about how you feel and whether your pace is sustainable. One of the mistakes I
noted after reading my journal at the end was that I spent far too much time
learning C++ to do the work, which I didn't know well. I could have done a
better job if I had used a language I know better such as Python.

I later came to know this method of self improvement as "monk mode", only in
my case with a very specific goal of learning graphics programming.

In terms of real world effects, I later co-founded a company with a product
that used a custom 3d graphics engine to do some of its work. I developed the
MVP but eventually hired programmers who have taken it forward beyond my skill
level. However, my business would not have existed in its current form without
this period of learning and introspection.

~~~
rubicon33
> I would do about 10 hours a day with a 2 hour break

How.

Seriously, how?

6 weeks of intense 10 hour per day studying...

Did you get a lucky brain or something? I literally can not stay focussed for
10 hours, even with little breaks here and there. And to do that for 6 weeks?
The only way I can see this being possible is if the content you're studying
is really exciting and fun for you. Otherwise, you must have a monk brain to
do this.

~~~
soneca
A 2 hour break seems a good amount of rest; much different from _"little
breaks here and there"_

My assumption is that GP routine would be 4 hours studying + 2 hours resting +
4 hours studying. Seems ok and most people could endure it for six weeks I
think.

If it was 5+2+5, might be a little harder, but feasable. Both ways, I think
the long break in the middle would be the secret for me

~~~
rubicon33
Ah ok. I had read his post as being a total of 12 hours (5+2+5). 4+2+4 seems
more manageable.

~~~
gtsteve
Actually it was 5+2+5. If I find something sufficiently interesting I don't
have a problem with focusing on it. Learning the maths was definitely the
hardest and perhaps on those days I didn't perfectly stick to the schedule but
when it involved implementing that into a solution, so long as I can see the
solution beginning to come together I can stay motivated long enough to work
on it.

Perhaps I do have a "monk brain" as you've put it but I certainly wasn't born
that way, I actually have very little in the way of formal qualifications and
barely made my way through school. I believe I was able to achieve this when I
started working and began seeing results as my skills improved.

My life is a bit more complicated now and I couldn't imagine doing something
similar today. The best I can do is a few hours over the weekend trying
something new. I'm glad I took the opportunity when I did.

