Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: I'm lonely. Are there any video chat support groups for solo founders?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 183 posts

Re: Ask HN: I'm lonely. Are there any video chat support groups for solo founders?

#91

Post by quickthrower2 »

ggg9990 wrote: post #32
mjwhansen wrote: post #18

Thank you for posting this. I've five weeks into working for myself and avoiding loneliness has become a key task for me every day. I wouldn't say I'm succeeding at it, to be honest. I know I could join a coworking space but I question whether it's worth $400+ a month when I wouldn't be able to attend the networking events since I have a family and need to be home at night. (And I don't need meeting space, and have a…

If you fail at working from home it's going to cost you a hell of a lot more than $400 a month. Time to move on that ASAP. Later when you're in a better place you can think about alternatives.

What does this mean?

Re: Ask HN: I'm lonely. Are there any video chat support groups for solo founders?

#92

Post by mgoetzke »

swyx wrote: post #66
songzme wrote: post #42

Personally, whenever I feel lonely I would go volunteer and help people. It makes you feel connected and really puts things into perspective (like, even if your startup doesn't do well, you would still be surrounded by people who enjoys you as a person). Every Saturday, my wife and I volunteer at our local library (northside branch in santa clara) to teach people how to code. We've been doing that for almost a year w…

this is a bit of an awkward question but.. have you ever come across anyone who you tried to teach but in the end was just not suited for coding? can everyone learn to code?

In my experience of teaching I have to say it depends.

Basic coding is rather simple and basically everyone can do that.

Actually writing/designing larger applications is a skill most people don't have the time/patience to learn, similar to how most people can write on hackernews/twitter/facebook etc, but only few people can write a novel.

Apart from the sequential understanding of how a computer operates, not everyone can express the goal in code that is, for lack of a better word, beautiful. Meaning 'easy' to read/follow, simple, expressive etc. And even less people can document/describe what happens, and even less people can see how the code they uses resources (cpu cycles,wait times,storage,etc) and thus cannot optimize appropriately.

Re: Ask HN: I'm lonely. Are there any video chat support groups for solo founders?

#93

Post by quickthrower2 »

swyx wrote: post #70
acangiano wrote: post #6

There is a site where you can co-work with someone. They do their thing. You do yours. Can't remember the name. Edit: I was thinking of https://www.focusmate.com , which has live streaming.

ok whoa. this thing is completely free? how do they make money?

question is will it be free forever?

Re: Ask HN: I'm lonely. Are there any video chat support groups for solo founders?

#94

Post by swyx »

songzme wrote: post #87
swyx wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is a bit of an awkward question but.. have you ever come across anyone who you tried to teach but in the end was just not suited for coding? can everyone learn to code?

Yes. If a person is able to do things sequentially (get up, brush teeth, etc etc), be able to decide, (if I do this, then I do that), they can code

love your positive attitude. i think my weakness as a javascript peer mentor/teacher is that sometimes i get frustrated when people dont get what I am trying to teach and its either i am a bad teacher or they aren't learning it right. and constantly at the back of my mind i'm wondering if its worth my time/effort to keep trying to teach the person or if they should go ask someone else who is better at teaching.

Re: Ask HN: I'm lonely. Are there any video chat support groups for solo founders?

#95

Post by danellis »

songzme wrote: post #87
swyx wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is a bit of an awkward question but.. have you ever come across anyone who you tried to teach but in the end was just not suited for coding? can everyone learn to code?

Yes. If a person is able to do things sequentially (get up, brush teeth, etc etc), be able to decide, (if I do this, then I do that), they can code

That's only true for very small, commercially useless values of "can code".

Re: Ask HN: I'm lonely. Are there any video chat support groups for solo founders?

#96

Post by danellis »

Joakal wrote: post #75
swyx wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is a bit of an awkward question but.. have you ever come across anyone who you tried to teach but in the end was just not suited for coding? can everyone learn to code?

As long they are interested in coding, they can code. It may take longer if they're not as adept. They can try some strategies to assist coding, such as books, checklists, pair programming, etc.

It's takes a lot more than interest. Programming requires intelligence. A lot of people are not very intelligent.

Re: Ask HN: I'm lonely. Are there any video chat support groups for solo founders?

#97

Post by jack_pp »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #91
ggg9990 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you fail at working from home it's going to cost you a hell of a lot more than $400 a month. Time to move on that ASAP. Later when you're in a better place you can think about alternatives.

What does this mean?

If you make 20 $/h and you can only work 80 a month because you're lonely but you would be able to work 160 at a coffee shop then 400 bucks turns into 1600

Re: Ask HN: I'm lonely. Are there any video chat support groups for solo founders?

#98

Post by greggman »

segmondy wrote: post #33
mjwhansen wrote: post #18

Thank you for posting this. I've five weeks into working for myself and avoiding loneliness has become a key task for me every day. I wouldn't say I'm succeeding at it, to be honest. I know I could join a coworking space but I question whether it's worth $400+ a month when I wouldn't be able to attend the networking events since I have a family and need to be home at night. (And I don't need meeting space, and have a…

I did the coworking space thing a few years ago, it wasn't worth it. No one there was doing anything interesting. There really wasn't much conversion. It was a waste of money for me. I can work alone for a long time. It's just the loneliness that slowly builds up over a long time from not talking about the project with peers walking the same path that sucks.

I think it probably really depends on the co-working space. I was at one for a few months that made a point of socializing. They had a portion of space dedicated to meetups from 7pm. They had 4-5 meetups a week. They organized dinner outings. One person organized a programmer meet up where he'd give out a short problem, have everyone solve it in their language of choice, then we'd have each person explain their solution, it was enlightening so see why each person made their choices.

I don't know how to know beforehand if a co-working space has lots of social activities or not, maybe see if they have an event page or a FB page showing past events.

Re: Ask HN: I'm lonely. Are there any video chat support groups for solo founders?

#100

Post by woogiewonka »

goatherders wrote: post #25

My friend Sherry is a counselor specifucally working with startup founders. Her husband Rob is the founder of Drip (and probably hangs out here) . She offers individual counseling and has some great group programs so you know you aren't alone in the challenges you face. I can not recommend her enough. https://zenfounder.com

Checking out her podcast, looks interesting.
Post reply on HN