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You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else?

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Re: You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else?

#31

Post by zerostar07 »

diego wrote: post #6

Been there, done that. Being a developer is a small fraction of what you need in order to create a successful product. If you are the kind of person who can do it, you don't need to read posts like these. I don't know about this guy, but it looks like he hasn't done it, and he has little idea of what lies ahead. Best of luck to him.

Depends. Being a developer means you can also iterate lots of different ideas before finding the one that works. In that case development is 80% of the time. With today's tools (social, advertising, job outsourcing) the rest of the work can become trivial. I am now a believer that developers can be entrepreneurs and try to motivate former colleagues to do the same. Remember that recent article from M. Andreesen about software eating the world[1]? It's true.

[1] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405311190348090457651...

Re: You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else?

#32

Post by Homunculiheaded »

Try an experiment, grab a piece of paper and write out the top ten programmers that first come to your mind. Now next to their names write out which company they work for.

There was a time when I was tossing around the idea of starting my own business, something just wasn't clicking for me. Then I did this experiment, and I realized that most the programmers who inspired me to be a programmer worked for someone else (with pg being a major exception). I thought "It can't just be because they didn't have the courage to start there own company". And then I realized what was making me uncomfortable with starting my own business.

I enjoy the myopia I can have being paid to work reasonable hours as a developer. I have other passions in life, but I love that I can spend the vast majority of my spare time studying code, cs, math etc without worrying about business, marketing etc. Design I like (I'm not as passionate about it), but business I really just don't get excited about.

As has been discussed over and over on hn, true expertise is only going to be achieved by putting lots of time into something. For me personally, I can't help that thing be programming and CS, maybe one day that will change (it honestly wouldn't surprise me). Now if you do that same experiment with the top 10 wealthiest people you respect, you will probably come up with a bunch of entrepreneurs. The question really only comes does to which top 10 is the one you strive to be in.

Re: You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else?

#33

Post by Confusion »

Homunculiheaded wrote: post #32

Try an experiment, grab a piece of paper and write out the top ten programmers that first come to your mind. Now next to their names write out which company they work for. There was a time when I was tossing around the idea of starting my own business, something just wasn't clicking for me. Then I did this experiment, and I realized that most the programmers who inspired me to be a programmer worked for someone else…

That was my first thought: because I'm indeed a developer. Not an entrepreneur.

Re: You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else?

#34

Post by keiferski »

Homunculiheaded wrote: post #32

Try an experiment, grab a piece of paper and write out the top ten programmers that first come to your mind. Now next to their names write out which company they work for. There was a time when I was tossing around the idea of starting my own business, something just wasn't clicking for me. Then I did this experiment, and I realized that most the programmers who inspired me to be a programmer worked for someone else…

Very true, but there's no need to assign developers as "inspiring experts" and entrepreneurs as "wealthy people."

10/10 of the wealthiest people are not successful because they wanted to be rich, they're successful because they enjoy business and entrepreneurship. These people aren't any different than you; they just have different interests.

It ultimately comes down to your personal interests. Like business? Be an entrepreneur. Like programming and computer science? Be a developer. The only thing not to be is in it only for the money.

Re: You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else?

#35

Post by pnathan »

I work for someone else because today, my expertise is in software development, not in

* sales & marketing

* graphic design

* finance

* business law

All of the above can be obtained and I plan to obtain enough expertise in those over time so that I could start my own software shop. But today, I assess my risk of total failure to be very high, with no soft landing.

Re: You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else?

#36

Post by learc83 »

I can't believe that the top comments in a thread on hacker news boil down to: most developers should probably just stick to working 40 hours a week, because most developers don't have the other skills required to run a company.

Yes it's true running a business takes more than just tech skills, and not every developer is capable of running a multi million dollar company.

However, I think that most developers are capable of running a successful small business.

Most people can't run facebook, but most intelligent people can run a small web business.

You may not want to run your own business, but that doesn't mean you don't have the ability.

Re: You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else?

#37

Post by Karellen »

I tried starting a business with a few friends. We made a pretty good go of it for a year or so. We didn't get rich, but we broke even compared to having regular jobs, which ain't bad. But, even though I wasn't really one of the business people in the group, I still had to be aware of and keep up to date with a whole lot of "running the business"/"schmoozing customers" crap that I had absolutely no interest in. I don't care. It's not interesting, or rewarding, or fun. I just want to build stuff. I'm not that bothered who decides what I'm building, so long as it's not an obviously complete waste of time.

So I work for someone else. It's a small company, and I'm a big cog in it, but I don't have to worry about any of the crap I don't want to worry about. I just build stuff that our clients want.

Yeah, I'm not raking in mad coin. Big fscking deal.

Re: You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else?

#38

Post by MrKurtHaeusler »

dangrover wrote: post #30
diego wrote: post #6

Been there, done that. Being a developer is a small fraction of what you need in order to create a successful product. If you are the kind of person who can do it, you don't need to read posts like these. I don't know about this guy, but it looks like he hasn't done it, and he has little idea of what lies ahead. Best of luck to him.

This is only true if you're 100% unwilling/unable to do anything except code. This is not true of all "developers." Being able to code does not disqualify you from being an intelligent, versatile human being capable of all sorts of things. And, failing that, it certainly does not prevent you from taking a holistic look at your business and outsourcing the things you can't handle. The funny thing you realize is how ma…

Life is far too short to take time away from things we want to, or like doing, to waste on things we are merely willing, or able to do.

Re: You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else?

#39

Post by Homunculiheaded »

keiferski wrote: post #34
Homunculiheaded wrote: post #32

Try an experiment, grab a piece of paper and write out the top ten programmers that first come to your mind. Now next to their names write out which company they work for. There was a time when I was tossing around the idea of starting my own business, something just wasn't clicking for me. Then I did this experiment, and I realized that most the programmers who inspired me to be a programmer worked for someone else…

Very true, but there's no need to assign developers as "inspiring experts" and entrepreneurs as "wealthy people." 10/10 of the wealthiest people are not successful because they wanted to be rich, they're successful because they enjoy business and entrepreneurship. These people aren't any different than you; they just have different interests. It ultimately comes down to your personal interests. Like business? Be an e…

You're very right, I didn't mean to imply such a dichotomy. I was thinking more along the lines off come up with your personal top 10 at X, where X can be even as simple as people who inspire/influenced you, and look for patterns.

Re: You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else?

#40

Post by jroseattle »

dangrover wrote: post #30
diego wrote: post #6

Been there, done that. Being a developer is a small fraction of what you need in order to create a successful product. If you are the kind of person who can do it, you don't need to read posts like these. I don't know about this guy, but it looks like he hasn't done it, and he has little idea of what lies ahead. Best of luck to him.

This is only true if you're 100% unwilling/unable to do anything except code. This is not true of all "developers." Being able to code does not disqualify you from being an intelligent, versatile human being capable of all sorts of things. And, failing that, it certainly does not prevent you from taking a holistic look at your business and outsourcing the things you can't handle. The funny thing you realize is how ma…

Who has this popular belief?

On the contrary, most people I know assume competency in one discipline automatically grants them competency in others.

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