

The HoPE Manifesto: How I Taught Myself to Code - vacanti
http://innonate.com/hope/

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innonate
Thanks everyone for the votes. I hope it's a helpful document for those
wanting to learn to code. Let me know how it can be better!

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zyphlar
I like the article, and support anyone who wants to learn to code, but resent
the increasingly frequent (and thus increasingly meaningless) use of the word
hacker.

There is an identifiable and very real hacker culture and ethic. To me, a suit
learning how to code and calling himself a hacker feels like a white guy going
to his first sweat lodge and changing his name to running wolf. Congrats, now
you've got a lifetime of coding, and hacking (two separate but related things)
ahead of you. Enjoy the journey.

*Edit: More to the point, since I know YCombinator loves the word hacker... what I want is for you to treat it like the honorific it is. A gentleman doesn't call himself a gentleman. One does not call themself a sensei. I don't call myself Mister Zyphlar. Hacker is not in my twitter bio. Replace hacker with "l33t"; call yourself a L33t Coding Product Executive and see how long it takes for a chuckle of disbelief.

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innonate
If being a hacker means having a lifetime of experience, then I am not a
hacker. If a hacker is someone who loves solving his own problems with his own
two hands -- that's me. I'll take either.

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kleinsch
Awesome article!

I liked the emphasis on going off-tutorial and learning how to get help
elsewhere when necessary. That's one of the most useful skills you can have in
the real world. I think, for startups especially, being able to quickly grok
new technologies and piece them together quickly is hugely valuable.

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cantbecool
Great article, very motivational to someone, like myself, who is just learning
the fundamentals of programming.

