
Hacker Dojos Aren’t Factories for “Idea” People - danielrm26
http://danielmiessler.com/blog/notice-hacker-dojos-arent-factories-for-idea-people
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zackzackzack
What I would do if I was on the receiving end of that conversation:

Get really excited and started coding on your laptop. Code the entire thing
and do a great job. Make it really shine for the guy, follow up on his
comments, tell him "excellent idea, why didn't I think of that". Do it all
locally. After an hour or two of this, the idea guy should be smugly confident
about how awesome he is and what a good idea coming to the dojo was. When it
is all finished, start to walk away or start working on something else. The
idea guy will probably ask something along the lines of "Wait, can I haz it?"

Then quote an obscene hourly rate and ride out the storm. "Oh, you mean you
actually want to have this? Sorry, I thought this was just a practice exercise
or something. It will cost about $300 for me to send it to you." At the very
least, he won't be so assuming anymore.

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tsunamifury
If you worked a few hours on it and it was good, I'd happily pay $300 for your
labor.

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zackzackzack
Yeah, my response was fairly tongue in check, but it isn't hard to imagine a
scenario where the idea guy starts grumbling and shells out whatever you ask.

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frisco
PS: Hacker Dojo is a hacker space in Mountain View. "Hacker space" is the word
you're looking for.

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orblivion
And even then, not exactly. The Hacker Dojo is sortof unusual among hacker
spaces in that it's almost entirely based in software, with a little
electronics. Most of them include sewing, metal working, any sort of DIY
stuff. Noisebridge in San Fran isn't far away and is more in line.

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jtchang
I think hackers by nature weed out non-technical people pretty quickly. I love
hackerdojo and noisebridge. I think this post is great in that it highlights
what it really comes down to: a misunderstanding on the person as to what a
hackerspace is.

It's about educating those that come in that people pride themselves on
getting stuff done.

Also I don't want to discourage any non-coders visiting these hackerspaces.
Please come by! But keep in mind that if you are after someone to do work for
you, you'll fail pretty bad. If you are here to learn, then by all means, take
a seat, I'll even help you out.

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mrmagooey
I see OP imagining himself doing some LOTR style "You Shall Not Pass" to one
of these evil 'idea' types at a hacker space. Situation portrayed seems
unlikely and somewhat contrived, i.e. I would hope that most hackers would be
independently capable of fending off someone "...from Hollywood...".

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danielrm26
Not contrived. That was the actual dialog, as it happened, within like five
minutes of it happening.

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kylemaxwell
So far as I can tell, Hacker Dojo is one particular place in the Bay Area. Do
others exist in other areas?

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danielrm26
Yes, perhaps "dojo" is a term for the Bay Area ones, but there are other
groups across the country where people get together to code collaboratively.

~~~
18pfsmt
Actually, the more common name is hackerspace (or hackspace), and they are
quite common all over the world:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackerspace#Notable_hackerspace...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackerspace#Notable_hackerspaces)

