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Are hacking skills completely necessary to be successful these days?

2 points by symptic ↗ HN
The title says it all for the most part, but as a young entrepreneur whose skills lie particularly in design and marketing, should I invest the time in learning a language or two or stick to what I know and focus on doing them better? It seems to me like the more successful startups are coming from those who bring the company from idea to product completely from their own work.

I've heard arguments on both sides of the fence, and am curious what YC members have to say on the topic.

3 comments

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tlrobinson
On one hand, I think everyone should learn at least a little programming. But honestly, casually "learning a language or two" isn't going to make you a great hacker.

That said, I certainly don't want to discourage you from doing it if you want to. Perhaps try learning a little programming, and if you like what you find, learn more.

symptic
This is pretty much what I had gathered previously; learning a bit for the sake of knowing every aspect of the business isn't enough to do the job with much excellence, but I think it could help a lot in understanding the problems my coders come across and in being more knowledgeable about the time restraints on certain tasks.

Thanks for the input.:) While I'm very busy with school and two outside projects, I feel like I'm missing a piece of the puzzle by not at least understanding the programming aspect.

gscott
Building product awareness is a full time task and so is programming.