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Ask HN: Most desired programming skills in a startup?

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Re: Ask HN: Most desired programming skills in a startup?

#11

Post by astrec »

pragmatic wrote: post #5

In ANY organization these skills matter: SQL - MOST Important - If you can fix a SQL problem (mysql, sqlserver, oracle) you ARE THE MAN. Administration - can you rotate the log files and fix the problems? Can you assign the correct permissions to a directory in centos, redhat and windows (03, 08) server - You are "teh" man. I can code in C++, Java, C# & Python but I get the most praise (and raise) from fixing common…

Not exactly sure why you're being downmodded.

If I follow, you're just saying (if a little enthusiastically) that DB/server administrator skills for hackers matter in a startup.

You'd be right - at each startup I've ever been involved in I've done everything from written code, configured the server, fixed the server at 3am, answered the phones, licked stamps for invoices (ok, not in modern times) and fetched coffee.

Startups generally don't have enough scale to hire one trick ponys.

In a younger founder/early employee, I'm not looking so much at programming ability as entrepreneurial spirit and a willingness to get stuff done. Even the coffee run.

Re: Ask HN: Most desired programming skills in a startup?

#12

Post by crashmoriarty »

cperciva wrote: post #2

I want to join an ambitious startup as a programmer. No you don't. This may be what you think you want, but it's not what you really want. Why do you want to join an ambitious startup rather than creating your own? Why does the startup you join need to be ambitious? Why does it need to be a startup? For that matter, why do you want to join as a programmer rather than, say, a graphic designer? If the answer to the abo…

Good point. I suppose to elaborate, I want to become a skilled hacker and I want to push myself in a project that I care about with people who are passionate about what they do. :)

Re: Ask HN: Most desired programming skills in a startup?

#13

Post by crashmoriarty »

makecheck wrote: post #4

It wasn't clear to me, is Ruby the first language you've learned? How many mini-projects have you tried, to see what you're capable of? You're better off starting with such projects, than leaping into anything big. Versatility is important. Try to do many different things in your programming. Even if you don't like some problems, think about how you'd solve them. At a startup, you'd be one of few employees so you cou…

To answer your questions: PHP is my first (and only other) language. My scope of mini-projects is fairly small.

Thanks for your advice. :)

Re: Ask HN: Most desired programming skills in a startup?

#14

Post by gojomo »

(1) breadth of system/code understanding, so you can contribute anywhere needed.

(2) consilience, which I will arbitrarily redefine here to mean being able to keep the overall goal/strategy in mind even as you work on every detail. Then, you know when to cut corners and when to spend effort on key differentiators. (Or more generally: able to manage yourself once you know the mission.)

(3) speed, either because you've got such total mastery of some area that you can do expert work at an amazing rate, or because you can immerse yourself in learning something new and race through demonstrable progress, niggling details and usual engineering detours/affectations be damned. (This is a variant of the PG "could you describe the person as an animal?" test.)

Re: Ask HN: Most desired programming skills in a startup?

#15

Post by swombat »

crashmoriarty wrote: post #12
cperciva wrote: post #2

I want to join an ambitious startup as a programmer. No you don't. This may be what you think you want, but it's not what you really want. Why do you want to join an ambitious startup rather than creating your own? Why does the startup you join need to be ambitious? Why does it need to be a startup? For that matter, why do you want to join as a programmer rather than, say, a graphic designer? If the answer to the abo…

Good point. I suppose to elaborate, I want to become a skilled hacker and I want to push myself in a project that I care about with people who are passionate about what they do. :)

Then you will gather those skills based on what's interesting to you, not based on what's marketable to a startup.

I have never gone out of my way to learn a computing skill specifically for a job (or even for a "dream"). All was always out of personal interest. By that method, I have accumulated a skill set (including Ruby/Rails programming) that has allowed me to start my startups when the opportunity was there.

You should be wary of even being a programmer if your primary driver to learn new things is what might be useful to your career. All good programmers I know and know of would be learning and applying their programming skills whether or not there was money involved.

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