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Getting into the tech scene when you have no skills

josephwalla.com

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Re: Getting into the tech scene when you have no skills

#21

Post by freework »

ryen wrote: post #17

I think the first thing people should ask themselves is: Why are you trying to get into this scene without any skills? In the last 10 years Silicon Valley and startups in general have attracted a mush of people who bring little or no value to the table. I'm not talking about business/product types or MBAs that might at least have some experience and maybe some contacts and financial know-how. No, its the kind of peop…

These people are called "startup groupies" and they are a huge problem in Silicon Valley, because that place is infested with them. I thought it funny too that "learn to program" (which the entire article should have been written about) was only given three sentences at the very end of the article.

Re: Getting into the tech scene when you have no skills

#23

Post by rms »

banachtarski wrote: post #22

My gut answer to the title of this post was "acquire skills." I don't know that this really deserved a post all on its own. Personally, I really disliked the "crash conferences" part.

One could update the "crash conferences" advice to "volunteer at conferences". Being behind the desk giving out badges is a powerful place to be in terms of developing connections or fitting into a scene.

Re: Getting into the tech scene when you have no skills

#24

Post by [deleted] »

ryen wrote: post #17

I think the first thing people should ask themselves is: Why are you trying to get into this scene without any skills? In the last 10 years Silicon Valley and startups in general have attracted a mush of people who bring little or no value to the table. I'm not talking about business/product types or MBAs that might at least have some experience and maybe some contacts and financial know-how. No, its the kind of peop…

[deleted]

Re: Getting into the tech scene when you have no skills

#25

Post by edraferi »

If you don't have skills, can you bring experience? Many start-ups try to disrupt existing industries. If you understand how an industry works and why it's vulnerable to disruption, you can join forces with technical people to become that disruption.

You should still learn to code though :-)

Re: Getting into the tech scene when you have no skills

#26

Post by jknightco »

callmeed wrote: post #19

I have to give the author credit–I like his approach much better than poseurs who drop into the scene and start running workshops or being mentors, all while never having actually built anything or attempted a startup.

Ugh, a 'friend' of mine is doing this. No skills, never worked at a startup. He's put up three landing pages over the course of the past 6 months and now blogs about his experiences 'starting' 3 companies. Its incredibly obnoxious.

Re: Getting into the tech scene when you have no skills

#27

Post by shazzdeeds »

I agree everybody should know the basics of HTML/CSS to become what I call "semi-technical", even if you're not attempting a startup. You might find you have an artistic flare for digital design, and suddenly become that much more marketable.

That being said, why would you want to found a startup if not to build something cool and get people interested in it? If that's not your natural passion, it's no coincidence you don't already have skills a technical company would find valuable.

Re: Getting into the tech scene when you have no skills

#28

Post by AndrewKemendo »

ryen wrote: post #17

I think the first thing people should ask themselves is: Why are you trying to get into this scene without any skills? In the last 10 years Silicon Valley and startups in general have attracted a mush of people who bring little or no value to the table. I'm not talking about business/product types or MBAs that might at least have some experience and maybe some contacts and financial know-how. No, its the kind of peop…

>I think the first thing people should ask themselves is: Why are you trying to get into this scene without any skills?

For the same reasons anyone with no skills gets into anything. Some people glamorize things they don't know, others have a passion but were slow starters, other still know there is gold there, but don't have the experience to understand how to get it.

I think the best thing is to be able to weed out the ones who truly are passionate about technology and are willing to learn. I would take someone super enthusiastic with an aptitude for learning and no technical skills over most others any other day.

I would also point out that the author implicitly suggests no technical skill = no skills, though it could simply be sloppy writing.

The community definitely needs more blog entries telling non-technical people to learn how to code.

Re: Getting into the tech scene when you have no skills

#30

Post by hayksaakian »

edraferi wrote: post #25

If you don't have skills, can you bring experience? Many start-ups try to disrupt existing industries. If you understand how an industry works and why it's vulnerable to disruption, you can join forces with technical people to become that disruption. You should still learn to code though :-)

This is the only valid answer I see other than getting skills.
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