I was in this spot about a year ago and have picked up quite a bit of web dev ability since.
I tried a few books, but they didn't really sink is all that well. Here is what I recommend:
- Take cs50 (Harvard intro class) from iTunesU. After attending school for 16 years, this is the single most worthwhile class I've ever taken. Plus it's free. It will give you a basic understanding of programming and a look at how to solve problems. Once you have completed this class, php, js, objective-c or whatever language you are interested in will have a lower learning curve. If you want more, Harvard has archived lectures and assignments of several other web dev classes and they are available online (for free).
- Start with Laravel, which is a relatively new php framework. The best thing about Laravel is that you can make progress in building items quickly and as you learn more, improve them. Like you, I wanted to start building things immediately. Within about 4 hours of reading tutorials, I had a basic CRUD application live. Laravel has a big community with many, many free tutorials. Check out: www.scotch.io and http://maxoffsky.com/category/code-blog/
As others have said, you can probably do this same thing with Angularjs. It might even be the better option.
- join Stackoverflow.com. It is likely that any problem you encounter with Angularjs or Laravel will be discussed and solved there.
- Join Codecademy.com to practice js, jQuery and php syntax.
One major innovation that has occurred over the past decade has been the distribution of technology that was only available to a lucky few.
Over the last decade tech has had a major impact on the daily lives of people like me. Today I can work from anywhere and communicate with everyone I know at any time of day, while 10 years ago I didn't have internet fast enough to watch a youtube video. iPhones weren't even sold in my state until 2008 (I might be off by a year in either direction).
Perhaps "better than most" isn't the right way to say it. My less than clear point was that there is less idle time at a startup than in traditional offices and when you don't have anything to do you do not need to be in the office.
I'm working on a simple web app that allows construction companies to send estimates and invoices by email and text and get paid immediately by cc or ach.
- laravel, twilio, balanced payments
- About 70% done
- Started this project in Sept, work on it for about 15 - 20 hours a week.
It seems that the answer should be, at least in the shot term, for good managers to recognize the 40 hours "available" concept and provide more flexible schedules. No one gains from having an office full of workers surfing Facebook on friday afternoon. Let people be someplace else if it their queue is empty.
From the outside, it seems like startups do this better than most.
This is why started to build web projects on the side. I have one these white collar jobs and I don't get to create things. I work closely with construction workers and get to see how satisfying it is for them to build something real.
Now I come home form 8 hours of work and spend 4 hours building things. Pretty bizarre.
The Power of Habits by Charles Duhigg. It helped me understand the importance of routines and how they shape our daily lives, impact buying decisions, and become ingrained in workplace culture.
The problems mentioned in the article certainly are not unique to SF, though the scale is pretty large.
Sidney, MT, which is in the Bakken oilfield, has such a shortage of housing that workers there spent last winter sleeping in campers and trucks on the side of the road. In the winter, the temperature can dip to -30 degrees. The dept of transportation (DOT) bottled up a housing projected for almost a year over a right of way dispute. In this case the developer agreed to pay for the improvements, but the DOT insisted on overseeing the process, which increased the cost 2x.
In my experience:
1. Homeowners fear change because they usually like their neighborhood, have most of their assets "at stake", and envision worst case scenarios.
2. Too many elected officials categorize themselves into a soundbite. They don't just campaign by the soundbite, but they govern by it. Project details and reality be damned, I'm pro-parks!
3. Top municipal employees almost always have too much power. When a new elected official comes in, they listen to his/her goals and then put new processes in place, while seldom removing old processes. This adds unreasonable amounts of time, complexity and cost to projects.
The first and second problem can frequently be worked out but the third problem is crippling. If you want to fix the housing crisis, start there.
Still, many people work better with short term milestones. I would wager that making a great product is always on the top of the list. The process of doing that is what matters. If this company finds intense focus with the goal getting in the summer batch, I'm all for it.
I'm working on an "escrow"/invoicing site + app for remodeling and repair contractors. They have big cash flow problems and often require homeowners to pay up front (don't do that). Homeowners benefit through better customer service and less risk of a contractor stealing from them.
I applied solo, so I wasn't holding my breath.
Congratulations to the teams that got in. I'm excited to see what you build.
Your site looks great. As an objective 3rd party with experience in the real estate sector, I think you are on to something great. (Which is obvious since you got in!)
I have used an offshore developer to help with some specific projects on my startup that is entering our friends and family launch this week. My experience has been fantastic.
I learned to code last fall and consider myself to be a semi-technical founder (php - laravel, jquery). I live in a small town in Montana and I knew I could not complete my MVP entirely by myself. With nearly no developers in my town I knew I would be working with someone over the internet to complete some of the project features.
I talked with roughly 10 freelance developers (half in U.S, one in Denmark, one in Belgium and a few in India).
I chose one of the developers in India because he seemed like the most capable of the group and immediately understood the project. He has been fantastic to work with and taken "ownership" in the project. I wouldn't hesitate to hire him full time if the project gains steam and he was willing to move to the U.S.
A couple of things to note: I would have much rather had an in house developer, but that just wasn't an option in my rural location. Also, my project is a marketplace of sorts, so it isn't a very complicated project from a coding standpoint. Going into this project with no sense of what I was after or how it would get done would have been a horrible idea, regardless of where the developer was located.
I had the offshore developer work on very specific modules that were organized through a shared trello board. Before I talked with him, I knew exactly what I wanted him to work on and the timeline for each project. He works some odd hours, so our usual schedule of talking was around 10am - noon and 9pm - 11pm.
This happens in construction way more than you might think. From 2005 - 2008 there were thousands of "paper generals" building houses as a way to make a quick $50 - $100k. Most of them subcontracted every aspect of the job and knew little to nothing about construction. Industries that experience a boom attract people that are looking to strike it rich.
The key to being successful for a non-tech founder is to have solid domain experience. A Realtor acting as a "paper general" stands a much better chance than a dentist.
Even if you ignore the ethical side of this issue, the risk that these practices create for Uber should have prevented them from developing SLOG. They had to know that this story would come out.
SLOG is now Uber's reputation. And Lyft becomes an even more lovable underdog.
I tried a few books, but they didn't really sink is all that well. Here is what I recommend:
- Take cs50 (Harvard intro class) from iTunesU. After attending school for 16 years, this is the single most worthwhile class I've ever taken. Plus it's free. It will give you a basic understanding of programming and a look at how to solve problems. Once you have completed this class, php, js, objective-c or whatever language you are interested in will have a lower learning curve. If you want more, Harvard has archived lectures and assignments of several other web dev classes and they are available online (for free).
- Start with Laravel, which is a relatively new php framework. The best thing about Laravel is that you can make progress in building items quickly and as you learn more, improve them. Like you, I wanted to start building things immediately. Within about 4 hours of reading tutorials, I had a basic CRUD application live. Laravel has a big community with many, many free tutorials. Check out: www.scotch.io and http://maxoffsky.com/category/code-blog/
As others have said, you can probably do this same thing with Angularjs. It might even be the better option.
- join Stackoverflow.com. It is likely that any problem you encounter with Angularjs or Laravel will be discussed and solved there.
- Join Codecademy.com to practice js, jQuery and php syntax.
Good luck.