

Ask HN: How do you explain the hacker's role to business types? - asolove

What do you tell people who approach you asking to "just build" a site for an idea they have?<p>We as a community denigrate these sorts of people. And I'm well aware it would be a bad idea to just quote a fixed price or hourly rate.<p>But I don't think there is active malice, just ignorance.<p>How do you explain to business types the role of a hacker in their business and the need to involve technology and user experience at all levels? How do you politely and helpfully convince them that you are not a commodity.<p>I would appreciate if someone could recommend a short book or blog post that I could send to these sorts of inquiries.
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mindcrime
Read these two posts, you may find something useful therein.

[http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2010-1...](http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2010-12.html#e2010-12-01T15_45_40.htm)

[http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2010-1...](http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2010-10.html#e2010-10-28T16_27_55.htm)

There might be some inspiration here as well:

[http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/78081/sorkin-
zucke...](http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/78081/sorkin-zuckerberg-
the-social-network)

None of this is _exactly_ an answer; but some of the ideas may help you
formulate something to give to people to help explain the role of the hacker.

~~~
asolove
This is very useful to me, but I feel like it might be too harsh to direct
business clients there initially. Perhaps there is need for a
ijustneedaprogrammer.com with a friendly explanation of why that won't work.

~~~
mindcrime
Yeah, this stuff is written more for _us_ than for the business types. But you
could probably take some of that and use it to help formulate a post of your
own... if you're so inclined. Anyway, it's food for thought if nothing else.

~~~
asolove
Thanks for your help! You're right, there seems to be a need. I should post
something.

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hasenj
Why bother explaining? If he doesn't want to get it, approach it as a contract
work: a limited offer where you do what he asks you within a limited time
frame and he pays you in exchange, and after that you bail out.

If he already thinks that's what your role should be anyway, then you got
yourself a low risk contract work.

Chances are, soon after the work starts, he himself will figure out after a
while that this model won't work out, and then you can have a deeper
discussion with him, where he actually has some experience to base the
discussion off of.

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james_baxter
I am a hybrid, business type/ technical, however I am not a hacker (I'm an IT
professional). I believe that I understand the role of a hacker in a startup
and I have a great idea for a startup. How should I approach a hacker about
joining my startup as a possible co-founder or to work on my project?

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asolove
Partial answer to my question. Paul Grahahm's "How to Start"
(<http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html>) addresses how to do it, but not why
the traditional model won't work.

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Mz
It seems to me this is the sort of thing that needs an on "on-going
conversation", not a one time lecture. Just like you build user experience and
community and all that over time, you build understanding in folks who are
clueless over time, not all at once. If they won't invest the time, put limits
on how much of your own time/energy/whatever you will throw away on a lost
cause. Yes, a good example or anecdote or metaphor may help open their eyes
but it is probably the beginning of the process not the end.

Peace.

