Ask HN: From biotech industry to web technology: how and where should I start?
A little bit about me.
I have a PhD in biotech/pharma field and worked as a post doc for few years (45K/year). I have always enjoyed doing science but now I am slowly realizing that I am not cut out for the research or cubicle jobs. I would like to work on something which will involve interacting with real people in real world (directly or indirectly).I want to get out of bench/cubicle culture. Lately,I have developed tremendous interest ( do not know if I can call it a passion) towards web programming and web development as I feel I can come up with a MVP pretty quick to test a concept compared to bringing something in biotech or pharma field. I have moved to Bay area with a new research related job recently and i want to leverage it.
In my long term plan I am clear that I want to do the following things. 1. I wan to be an entrepreneur and I want to add value in people's life 2. I need to be financially independent as soon as possible. 3. Start my own company and work with awesome people around world.
Babysteps so far taken:-
To get in to webworld and entrepreneurship, I have started the following things-
1. I have bought few domains and have started launching few sites with static pages and test blogs ( To know the basics of web application).
2. Watching Stanford course on Web applications and Programming.
3. I have started learning HTML, CSS and Javascript. For web programming,I tried with python programming but quickly got frustrated with it. I just could not get my head wrap around it.So I have started MHartl's a Ruby on Rails tutorial and I like it.
4. Few days ago I came across with ROR bootcamp offered by Sheeref on HN and really wanted to join but being the sole bread earners with a family and kids (bread and health insurance?), I was too afraid to join .
So my few questions to fellow HNguys including PG (If I am lucky) who have been there and done that (and still doing),
1. What is the quickest but sturdiest path to get into programming to build a MVP?
2. Is there any place in Bay area where I can learn programming in evening?
3. If my long term goal is to be a web entrepreneur then how realistic it is to learn programming and then developing something and launching it?
4. Any experienced fellow on HN would like to help by becoming a mentor?
Any suggestions and inputs are highly appreciated. My email is on my profile.
I apologize for any typo or grammatical errors as English is not my first language.
Thanks to all.
12 comments
[ 0.30 ms ] story [ 30.2 ms ] threadFor RoR:
1) Have you seen the free Rails for Zombies course from code school? There is a part 2 which costs money ... but might be worth it if you enjoyed part 1.
2) There are a few screencasts on peepcode that might be useful. I think there are two on Rails3/3.1 for 10 or 12 bucks. I thought they were worth it.
MVP advice:
1) I am not a successful entrepreneur so take my advice with a grain of salt. I've learned after several MVPs that just writing code and putting it up on the web does not translate to cash. PG wrote an article relevant to this recently ... http://paulgraham.com/schlep.html
So basically, my experience has been that building an MVP is part of a much grander process. Do build a quick an dirty MVP to explore your ideas and get feedback. But also do think of the bigger picture and iterate.
For learning to code:
1) I'm not a fan of these bootcamp events that are quite popular these days. That said, I have a CS degree and code for fun. After attending a few of these events, I felt these events were pretty useless. You cannot learn to code in a weekend or a week. But so what? My suggestion is to pick a language (if you will do RoR, Ruby is a perfect choice; if you want to do server side stuff, I'd recommend Python). Once you picked a language, write code! For fun! Yes ... it sounds insane given you have an MVP to work on. But do it for fun! Write a sudoku solver or whatever strikes you as a fun toy problem. After a while, writing code will be as natural as thinking.
2) Go to Hackathons on weekends/evenings. There are ton of events all the time. Usually, they are very cheap to attend. Work with other developers. I picked up RoR from a dude at a hackathon (I was using Python and being too slow). Same thing for choice of programming editors, etc.
Have you thought of combining your biotech with coding? This is a different path than web programming. It might become very fruitful over time.
Yes, I have read PG's article about Schlep business and it is a really eye opener for me.
Regarding Bootcamp- I am waiting to see those bootcamper's feedback regarding the bootcamp.If it is highly successful then it is worth every penny and your time. Is not it?
Hackthons- I have no ideas about Hackathons in bay areas. But I will look for it and start attending it.
Yes I have few product ideas for biotech and pharma industry but I do not have enough cash to hire a good programmer. And also I have no clues where and how to find a good programmer. I cound not find your email on your profile. Please shoot me an email. Would like to talk to you more.
Email is in my profile. I'll be periodically updating my blog with "life on the outside" type posts too.
As an aside, I'm a strong believer in micropreneurial projects as espoused by Rob Walling. One of his big points is deciding if you want to be a web entrepeneur, or a web developer. If you want to be an entrepeneur, it may be a better use of time/money to outsource development instead of taking the time to learn coding yourself.
With all that said, I absolutely adore programming itself. But not everyone does, and if your ultimate goal isn't to write code as a living, it may be better to sidestep that part of the process.
But thank for the inputs. Check your email.
Luckily, coding may be hard but it is also eminently accessible. One of my big gripes with biology has always been the lack of "community help". In biology, if you need help with something, you A) ask around the lab/department B) find papers, email the authors, pray they answer or C) perform ritual sacrifice and pray to the elder gods.
In programming, you have thousands of great resources all over the internet. I honestly think that everyone can learn enough programming skills to be reasonably competent if they put some effort into it. You persevered through a PhD - I think you'll be fine with programming =D
Shoot me an e-mail if you have time. I have a couple of ideas floating around that might need some biotech experience.
Would love to get in touch. My e-mail is in my profile.