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Tell HN: Hello

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Re: Tell HN: Hello

#31

Post by Lorento »

sktrdie wrote: post #28
technofiend wrote: post #20

Mohamed let me tell you about my little sister. She was the opposite of me in that she hated school. Truly hated it. She said she'd never set foot in school again after graduating high school. But, she wanted to be a police officer, and that required college. So she put herself through school by being a prison guard. My little 5'3" sister running around bossing grown men like it was nothing. She made it through schoo…

Great story expect the last part. Where you're sort of implying that all smart people are coders and others that do other types of jobs aren't. I met a lot of people that were a lot smarter than most "startup developers" and it didn't require them to sit in front of a computer most of the day.

It's not easy to tell how smart someone is by meeting them. That tends to bias you towards social abilities. IQ tests help to level the field by testing abilities that we can't easily observe just by knowing someone. Not that IQ tests are accurate at all either. But I just mean to say that feeling that someone is smart can just mean they're smart at appearing smart and may not have the same abilities at a broad range of thinking skills as someone with a high IQ.

Re: Tell HN: Hello

#32

Post by masterminding »

vjdhama wrote: post #29

Awesome man!! Your humility just inspires me. Ping me (@vjdhama) if you need any kind of help with coding or any aspect of learning for that matter. I'd be more than happy to lend out a hand.

I might have to take you up on that offer myself. ;-)

Re: Tell HN: Hello

#33

Post by cturner »

Lorento wrote: post #31
sktrdie wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great story expect the last part. Where you're sort of implying that all smart people are coders and others that do other types of jobs aren't. I met a lot of people that were a lot smarter than most "startup developers" and it didn't require them to sit in front of a computer most of the day.

It's not easy to tell how smart someone is by meeting them. That tends to bias you towards social abilities. IQ tests help to level the field by testing abilities that we can't easily observe just by knowing someone. Not that IQ tests are accurate at all either. But I just mean to say that feeling that someone is smart can just mean they're smart at appearing smart and may not have the same abilities at a broad range…

I had a cab driver a couple of weeks ago. We got talking, and I said I am a developer. He said he knew some c#. He seemed slow but I humoured him - asked how he got into it. He then started talking about machine code programming on the c64 and showed an encyclopedic knowledge of the sprite system, the way to build event loops and different approaches to laying out large programs.

Re: Tell HN: Hello

#34

Post by jmspring »

sktrdie wrote: post #28
technofiend wrote: post #20

Mohamed let me tell you about my little sister. She was the opposite of me in that she hated school. Truly hated it. She said she'd never set foot in school again after graduating high school. But, she wanted to be a police officer, and that required college. So she put herself through school by being a prison guard. My little 5'3" sister running around bossing grown men like it was nothing. She made it through schoo…

Great story expect the last part. Where you're sort of implying that all smart people are coders and others that do other types of jobs aren't. I met a lot of people that were a lot smarter than most "startup developers" and it didn't require them to sit in front of a computer most of the day.

I read it as, one can be smart, but the drive and perseverance to pursue your dreams and desires are really a major key to achieving one's goals.

Re: Tell HN: Hello

#35

Post by jmspring »

sktrdie wrote: post #28
technofiend wrote: post #20

Mohamed let me tell you about my little sister. She was the opposite of me in that she hated school. Truly hated it. She said she'd never set foot in school again after graduating high school. But, she wanted to be a police officer, and that required college. So she put herself through school by being a prison guard. My little 5'3" sister running around bossing grown men like it was nothing. She made it through schoo…

Great story expect the last part. Where you're sort of implying that all smart people are coders and others that do other types of jobs aren't. I met a lot of people that were a lot smarter than most "startup developers" and it didn't require them to sit in front of a computer most of the day.

I read it as, one can be smart, but the drive and perseverance to pursue your dreams and desires are really a major key to achieving one's goals.

Re: Tell HN: Hello

#36

Post by richardboegli »

MS Access - Learn it first!

Why?

The first few reasons that come to mind:

1) To quote a friend of mine, “If a 50 year old boilermaker can work it out, then anyone can.”

2) MS Access will more than likely be installed on your computer at work.

3) Almost all "startup" type programs will need databasing of some sort.

4) It has macros and modules (VBA - Visual Basic for Applications)

5) As you start to learn Visual Basic for Application you can use this to potentially automate things at work as it available across Word and Excel.

Read these to get started:

Database basics [1]

This article provides a brief overview of databases -- what they are, why you might want to use one, and what the different parts of a database do.

Database design basics [2]

A properly designed database provides you with access to up-to-date, accurate information.

Learn the structure of an Access database [3]

Becoming familiar with the tables, forms, queries, and other objects in a database can make it easier to perform a wide variety of tasks, such as entering data into a form, adding or removing tables, finding and replacing data, and running queries.

[1] https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Database-basics-2C5...

[2] https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/Database-design-bas...

[3] https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Learn-the-structure...

Re: Tell HN: Hello

#37

Post by charlesdm »

cturner wrote: post #33
Lorento wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not easy to tell how smart someone is by meeting them. That tends to bias you towards social abilities. IQ tests help to level the field by testing abilities that we can't easily observe just by knowing someone. Not that IQ tests are accurate at all either. But I just mean to say that feeling that someone is smart can just mean they're smart at appearing smart and may not have the same abilities at a broad range…

I had a cab driver a couple of weeks ago. We got talking, and I said I am a developer. He said he knew some c#. He seemed slow but I humoured him - asked how he got into it. He then started talking about machine code programming on the c64 and showed an encyclopedic knowledge of the sprite system, the way to build event loops and different approaches to laying out large programs.

That's pretty awesome! Reminds me of a conversation I had with my grandfather last year - he told me did a few years of programming on IBM mainframes with punch cards in his 20s, before switching and becoming an accountant.

Re: Tell HN: Hello

#38

Post by primitivesuave »

Hey Mohamed! I'm really glad you're making a startup. When I started my first startup, I had no idea how to make "mywebsite.com" link up to my actual website - the whole process was a mystery to me. It was like wandering around in a dark room and bumping into the furniture and walls.

I got the business started with just a simple Bootstrap template and PHP form, and it worked great! After around 6 months of learning new things every day through the Internet, chat rooms, etc, all in an effort to improve the website, I felt like one of those days I just found the light switch, and the whole room was illuminated.

Nowadays I can work on my own schedule on coding projects that I truly enjoy doing. Two years ago, I didn't even know what I was capable of building. There were certainly those days where it all feels a bit overwhelming, but like another great commenter pointed out here, perseverance is key.

Re: Tell HN: Hello

#39

Post by maxschumacher91 »

Dear Mohamed,

do you think you'll be able to use your specific insight into the prison system as a basis for your idea? I bet there are many problems waiting to be solved.

Prisons are big money, especially in the US.

Greetings and all the best for your journey to YC

Re: Tell HN: Hello

#40

Post by halflings »

richardboegli wrote: post #36

MS Access - Learn it first! Why? The first few reasons that come to mind: 1) To quote a friend of mine, “If a 50 year old boilermaker can work it out, then anyone can.” 2) MS Access will more than likely be installed on your computer at work. 3) Almost all "startup" type programs will need databasing of some sort. 4) It has macros and modules (VBA - Visual Basic for Applications) 5) As you start to learn Visual Basic…

This is... some pretty weird advice. Learn MS Access first? Really?

First, it's just a database system coupled with macros. That's not the most important thing you'll want to learn if you want to build a startup. The frontend and/or backend logic are the most interesting, not "macros" to run on your database.

Then, VBA is pretty horrible for a beginner and he's probably going to want to deploy his service at some point (and MS solutions are not exactly the easiest to deploy for a beginner)

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