I thought that most tech entrepreneurs have learned to code by themselves.
Instagram’s founder, a marketer who learned to code at night
31–40 of 88 posts
Re: Instagram’s founder, a marketer who learned to code at night
#32What's so hard to believe about that? Are there any programmers who aren't self taught these days . . .
Tons. Most.
Re: Instagram’s founder, a marketer who learned to code at night
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
He just went to a party. He didn't have rolodex of investors or anything.
He went to a party where Andreessen Horowitz happened to also be attending. I'm assuming he didn't crash this party. I didn't say he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, just that he was in a position where his hard work was likely to be recognized.
[deleted]
Re: Instagram’s founder, a marketer who learned to code at night
#34Not entirely true though. He's been coding for a long time. He studied management science and engineering. It's not as if he wasn't technical before he started with instagram.
>>>He's been coding for a long time.
I'm confused now. The article says he began in 2010, just two years ago. Absolutely not true at all?
Re: Instagram’s founder, a marketer who learned to code at night
#35Not entirely true though. He's been coding for a long time. He studied management science and engineering. It's not as if he wasn't technical before he started with instagram.
I wouldn't call tinkering with Pascal and C while in High School necessarily a long time. He had one CS class at Stanford, in which he didn't really excel (source: his Quora answers compiled here http://www.forbes.com/sites/limyunghui/2012/04/09/inspiring-... and foundation podcast by Kevin Rose).
Re: Instagram’s founder, a marketer who learned to code at night
#36This just goes to show that the most critical ingredient to success is determination and focus, not any specific training. If you are committed to a goal, picking up any specific hands-on skills (coding included) is just the matter of sticking to it. Something to keep in mind when hiring.
[deleted]
Re: Instagram’s founder, a marketer who learned to code at night
#37Re: Instagram’s founder, a marketer who learned to code at night
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Spin aside. His story would be really inspiring for folks i have met who think that for one to learn how to program, they need to go to Uni and apply for a cs degree which is bullshit.
The problem is that a lot of HR departments won't consider people without degrees. A Stanford degree opens a lot of doors. This is one of the reasons I have a lot of hope in online education. When it becomes mainstream, HR departments won't be able to ignore it.
>>>The problem is that a lot of HR departments won't consider people without degrees.
Aren't people who are motivated to teach themselves coding the very kind of people who would want to avoid dealing with Suit HR departments? Wouldn't they be more interested in working at a smaller firm, especially a startup, if they had to work for someone else at all?
Re: Instagram’s founder, a marketer who learned to code at night
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Spin aside. His story would be really inspiring for folks i have met who think that for one to learn how to program, they need to go to Uni and apply for a cs degree which is bullshit.
It is bullshit, I'm currently learning to program by following the excellent CS106A paper at Stanford, free on iTunesU. In the current online climate you can learn to code without trying to figure out how to pay a massive student loan back when you're done. What bugged me about the spin was the comment about Systrom receiving no formal training, unlike Zuck. Zuck built Facebook with next none of the "formal training"…
I'm curious about this. Can you basically get a Stanford education via iTunes now? And how would you convince people that you actually had one? [typo edit]
Re: Instagram’s founder, a marketer who learned to code at night
#40It is good to know that there are GOOD marketers-turned-programmers in the world. I work with someone who bills himself as a programmer, in fact was hired to be "senior developer." This "senior developer" isn't. Instead, he's a marketer and bullshitter who lied his way into his position. He's not coded a single thing in the 8 months of his employ. Instead he has had his position changed to "marketing director" because "that's his niche."
I wonder what impact being around world-class engineers are Google had on Systrom's path.