Business co-founder

2 points by Jage 14y ago ↗ HN

I remember reading a thread on Hacker News a while back about non-technical co-founders and whether they should learn to program.

As I remember it, everyone here recommended the co-founder learn coding. That made sense to me, and now having worked under leaders at a start-up who lacked even a basic technical understanding, I can fully appreciate everyones recommendations.

But coding is hard.

I've learned some HTML/CSS over the past few months through books and online tutorials, but no matter how hard I try, it really isn't for me. I'm not made to be a coder, and it's hard to push myself to learn more.

Any recommendations on books or online tutorials I should check out? How many languages should I learn?

Most importantly, what languages should I learn? I was planning on learning PHP but the guys I work with kept arguing with me about the inferiority of PHP to Ruby & Rails... I know that's a packed discussion, but for a broad-based understanding what's best?

I'm trying to get a pretty broad-based understanding of coding so I can have competent conversations about it... Though if I could get good enough to build prototypes of what I want that would be amazing

Moreover, any further pointers on what coders appreciate in a non-technical co-founder?

(All advice is much appreciated)

1 comment

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anthropeeps 14y ago ↗

I'm in the same boat and have been teaching myself to code. Fortunately I don't find it too difficult. Tedious, yes, but try to think of it as any other subject. There are a few basics to memorize and then you are free to create your own vision from what you've learned.

In regards to languages, I've heard it really depends on you and what you are hoping to achieve and almost every programmer I've spoken to has a distinct preference. I'm under the impression this is something us newbie hackers will determine over time...? None of them have been able to recommend any particular book though so I just went to the library, checked out a TON of books and leafed through a few chapters to determine which ones I appreciated.

Which websites are you looking going to for tutorials on HTML and CSS? I have one that I really like but I'm trying to find other resources...