
How much hacking one should know before starting a startup? - ankit

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sharpshoot
Here's a quote i live by "action is a powerful drug". Momentum builds
momentum, procrastinating that you haven't got the right skills is baseless.
You don't know until you actually start doing it.

Remember, a startup is the only job you can do without being qualified for it
:) You'll never have enough skills and everything opens up a new can of worms.

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nostrademons
More is better, obviously, but you don't actually need to know that much to
build a successful startup. If you just keep hacking at it and ruthlessly
revise the code you've already written, you'll get there eventually.

IMHO, the best benefit of learning a lot is knowing how to _not_ write code. A
journeyman programmer can crank out lots of code in a short period of time and
quickly implement new features. A master programmer can recognize that by
restating the problem a little, you don't have to write _any_ code and a
simple, elegant solution falls out of tools and algorithms that are already
available.

Of course, the best way to become a better programmer is to hack on your
startup a lot. That's why you're best off starting even if you don't think
you're ready yet.

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jamongkad
So are you saying a master programmer copies and pastes code on the internet
instead of cranking it out from his head?

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nostrademons
Nope. He downloads it from the Internet and imports it instead of cranking it
out from his head.

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sharpshoot
once you've decided on your idea build it. If you can sustain the amount of
product innovation without reaching your limits as a hacker you'll then know
thats the level you need to be at.

Start building and then take it from there..

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ankit
I have had ppl suggesting that one should sit and learn as much skills before
starting out, but somehow it did'nt seem right to me.... That was a gud
suggestion though

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ankit
Just wondering if there is a certain level of hacking one should cross before
starting a startup.

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jward
Necessity is a powerful motivator. Until you _need_ to learn something the
drive isn't cranked up.

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jamongkad
To build on this, coding also should be a pleasurable experience in itself.
Another powerful motivator is your love to learn how to code.

