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Tell HN: I quit my job Starting full-time on my startup on Monday.

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Re: Tell HN: I quit my job Starting full-time on my startup on Monday.

#11

Post by DaveChild »

jaekwon wrote: post #10
ryanelkins wrote: post #3

Tell me about it. I have 6.5 more hours of people here slowly becoming more and more terrified as they begin to realize they have no idea how to maintain the software they asked me to build. I can't wait to be free. (In case anyone didn't notice, I'm OP's co-founder)

sounds like you're just being greedy?? did you choose to leave your coworkers behind with a heap of your code, or did they ask you to leave? nothing wrong with leaving a company, but developers should at least leave their work maintainable.

It's the responsibility of the company to ensure they are capable of coping with a coder leaving. I've worked for companies where they've just not given any time or thought to what happens if the coder leaves.

Re: Tell HN: I quit my job Starting full-time on my startup on Monday.

#12

Post by jasonlotito »

jaekwon wrote: post #10
ryanelkins wrote: post #3

Tell me about it. I have 6.5 more hours of people here slowly becoming more and more terrified as they begin to realize they have no idea how to maintain the software they asked me to build. I can't wait to be free. (In case anyone didn't notice, I'm OP's co-founder)

sounds like you're just being greedy?? did you choose to leave your coworkers behind with a heap of your code, or did they ask you to leave? nothing wrong with leaving a company, but developers should at least leave their work maintainable.

Being maintainable doesn't mean anyone can maintain it. Their needs to be a certain level of quality to the person doing the maintaining as well. =)

Re: Tell HN: I quit my job Starting full-time on my startup on Monday.

#13

Post by jasonlotito »

vyrotek wrote: post #6
djb_hackernews wrote: post #5

Congrats on taking the plunge. Monday eh? 9am sharp? Does your startup already have a defined work week and business hours? :)

Heh, not quite. We do have to show up on Monday at 10am for the official kickoff of the program. We have some office space assigned to us as well as some mentorship classes scheduled throughout the 3 months. Of course, we'll most likely work way more hours for our own company. I already have a hard time stopping myself from coding every night.

Some tips from someone who did this many years ago.

1. Start every day at the same time. Be reasonable. 10 AM is acceptable. But be consistent.

2. Make sure you give yourself time away from your company. Yes, you'll love it and want to work late nights. However, giving yourself a 2 hour break to go out, have a nice dinner with your co-founder, and maybe have a beer or two will do wonders. Even if you end up talking about business.

3. Dress smart. Keep yourself groomed properly. It sounds silly, but really, you are your company. If you can't take care of yourself, you can't take care of your company.

4. Stay focused. You know what drives you. At least at the start, build stuff you want to build. Don't let other people deter you. You'll have a lot of "If it only did this..." comments. That's rubbish. Don't get me wrong. If the idea is good and you want to take it on, do so! But don't feel obligated. The good deals always came because of the work I wanted to do, not from some "If you build this, I'll buy" comment.

Re: Tell HN: I quit my job Starting full-time on my startup on Monday.

#14

Post by vyrotek »

megamark16 wrote: post #4

Good luck! I'll be especially interested to see what BoomStartup is like as you go through their program.

We definitely took a chance being one of the first companies in the program. But after meeting many of the mentors and investors we were confident that their intentions were good and they will do all that they can to help us succeed. Its also exciting to work along-side other startups at the same time.

Re: Tell HN: I quit my job Starting full-time on my startup on Monday.

#15

Post by vyrotek »

jasonlotito wrote: post #13
vyrotek wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heh, not quite. We do have to show up on Monday at 10am for the official kickoff of the program. We have some office space assigned to us as well as some mentorship classes scheduled throughout the 3 months. Of course, we'll most likely work way more hours for our own company. I already have a hard time stopping myself from coding every night.

Some tips from someone who did this many years ago. 1. Start every day at the same time. Be reasonable. 10 AM is acceptable. But be consistent. 2. Make sure you give yourself time away from your company. Yes, you'll love it and want to work late nights. However, giving yourself a 2 hour break to go out, have a nice dinner with your co-founder, and maybe have a beer or two will do wonders. Even if you end up talking a…

Thanks for the tips! Ryan and I are both married with young kids so we will definitely have to learn to budget our time wisely to make sure we keep the wives happy :)

Re: Tell HN: I quit my job Starting full-time on my startup on Monday.

#17

Post by jacquesm »

Super, congratulations and all the best of luck and energy to you.

If you can spare the time, keep a notebook of what you experience, online or offline doesn't matter much. Later when you look back you'll be surprised how much use that can have.

Re: Tell HN: I quit my job Starting full-time on my startup on Monday.

#18

Post by ryanelkins »

jaekwon wrote: post #10
ryanelkins wrote: post #3

Tell me about it. I have 6.5 more hours of people here slowly becoming more and more terrified as they begin to realize they have no idea how to maintain the software they asked me to build. I can't wait to be free. (In case anyone didn't notice, I'm OP's co-founder)

sounds like you're just being greedy?? did you choose to leave your coworkers behind with a heap of your code, or did they ask you to leave? nothing wrong with leaving a company, but developers should at least leave their work maintainable.

The primary problem is that I've been developing in Java and everyone else is a PHP developer. They did recently hire another Java developer but they are right out of school and are going to struggle with having to be the sole person responsible for some large and rather critical applications.

Re: Tell HN: I quit my job Starting full-time on my startup on Monday.

#20

Post by jaekwon »

DaveChild wrote: post #11
jaekwon wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sounds like you're just being greedy?? did you choose to leave your coworkers behind with a heap of your code, or did they ask you to leave? nothing wrong with leaving a company, but developers should at least leave their work maintainable.

It's the responsibility of the company to ensure they are capable of coping with a coder leaving. I've worked for companies where they've just not given any time or thought to what happens if the coder leaves.

I agree, that companies should be prepared for developers to leave.

I maintain that developers and engineers should leave their work maintainable.

I know I'm going to get downvoted, but this needs to be said. With great programming power comes great programming responsibilities. And you and I know this power doesn't come from silicon or management.

We all bitch about crappy products, and fail to see the developers on the other leave their turd piles for management to "manage".

Or we bitch about crappy code left behind by the prior owners -- spitting at the sky playing musical chairs.

If you need to leave your job, at least offer to maintain your shit. Don't leave them trembling in fear. Save us greedy monkeys.

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