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

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

#101

Post by exikyut »

swyx wrote: post #94
songzme wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What fields do you have knowledge in (okay, JS, but more specifically?), and how much free time do you have?

You have a bit of a goldmine here: there are _guaranteed_ a ton of people on here who wouldn't mind a bit of private tuition. Bam, instant feedback.

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

#102

Post by exikyut »

anindha wrote: post #83
Joakal wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Imagine a graph where one axis is how interested you are and the other axis is how quickly you pick it up. There is a diagonal line the separates those that will persist long enough to be a good coder.

This perfectly explains my own reaction/opinion when I started reading the comment that started this subthread.

Worded much better than I could have put it.

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

#103

Post by exikyut »

cylinder wrote: post #51
Waterluvian wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And with one comment on Hacker News I think I understand why people do work at Starbucks. Not sure why that never dawned on me.

So all those people sitting there because they're lonely and want to be around other people ... But they never talk to one another. Weird.

In some theoretical parallel universe somewhere, and maybe even in the future of this one, I'm imagining people with private (tiny) airplanes flying out to some backwater dot county nobody knows about, just to code at one of the coffee shops there.

Because people are really forward in rural areas.

Hm, now I see the bugs in this idea; poor internet speed for one, compounded by the fact that said person is likely going to want to move out there permanently...

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

#104

Post by exikyut »

greggman wrote: post #98
segmondy wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 solut…

Hmmmmm.

It sounds like "coworking space" and "coder makespace" got lumped together, and need to be teased apart to clarify what to expect.

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

#105

Post by ryandrake »

This thread is such a stark and welcome contrast to the dozens of "remote work is the one true way" and "open offices are bad in all ways" threads that seem to pop up here every few weeks. For extroverts (or in my case, introvert-deliberately-turned-extrovert) energy, creativity and innovation are fueled by human interaction. I consider going solo, couped up in your sterile, quiet home office, to be a certain path to failure. I'm glad to finally have a discussion here where this is being recognized!

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

#106

Post by exikyut »

jondubois wrote: post #99

"If you need a friend, get a dog." Or if you want human friends, be an employee at a corporation and you will find plenty of colleagues to make friends with. Otherwise, toughen up. If it was easy, everyone could do it.

> Otherwise, toughen up.

> If it was easy, everyone could do it.

It seems these two sentences are mutually exclusive.

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

#107

Post by exikyut »

hindsightbias wrote: post #31
notlisted wrote: post #17

I'd like a place where I could log in and see people working. The https://complice.co/rooms stuff (just chat, no cams) mentioned above/below is an interesting concept. Pomodoro timers. X mins push, Y mins talk. Shame the rooms are empty.

This gave me an idea. Anyone need a virtual supervisor? People could check in with you every few hours and ask you about the progress on your TPS Reports. All just for 5% of your startup.

I remember reading how someone actually did this. They hired someone from craigslist to sit with them at a coffee shop, quietly watch what they were doing, and poke them to stay on task if they got distracted. It worked out ridiculously well.

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

#108

Post by ericd »

jondubois wrote: post #99

"If you need a friend, get a dog." Or if you want human friends, be an employee at a corporation and you will find plenty of colleagues to make friends with. Otherwise, toughen up. If it was easy, everyone could do it.

As a former solo founder, "just toughen up" is very bad advice. It's not something to just power through, and trying is likely to be bad for your mental health. Much better advice would be to get a cofounder and/or join a startup program or some other group of peers.

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

#109

Post by Vinnl »

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 know I could join a coworking space but I question whether it's worth $400+ a month

I'm not sure whether this is available in every country/big city, but I've been working from Seats2Meet [1]. You can work there for free, and although it can get noisy, for me, having some buzz around me helps against loneliness and doesn't impact my productivity that much.

[1] http://seats2meet.com/

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

#110

Post by ryandrake »

telesilla wrote: post #84
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…

For everyone commenting on going to a café every day, you'll end up spending the $400 on coffee, cakes whathaveyou and you won't have the guarantee of a quiet, thoughtful space when you need it. I needed some company some time ago and found a co-working space that I treated like a café - the coffee included, I brought my own lunch, and even though I'm not particularly sociable it was still much, much healthier than w…

Well, you don't have to constantly be buying coffee, or stay there the entire day. I find about 2 hours and a single $2 cup twice a day to be perfect for re-energizing and getting some human contact.
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