Comment by polyfractal | Hacker News Reader

Comment by polyfractal | Hacker News Reader

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I'm going through a similar transition right now. I just left academic neurobiology (MIT) for freelance web development. I don't have any advice since I'm still in the thick of it myself, but feel free to send me an email if you want to touch base and keep in contact.

Email is in my profile. I'll be periodically updating my blog with "life on the outside" type posts too.

As an aside, I'm a strong believer in micropreneurial projects as espoused by Rob Walling. One of his big points is deciding if you want to be a web entrepeneur, or a web developer. If you want to be an entrepeneur, it may be a better use of time/money to outsource development instead of taking the time to learn coding yourself.

With all that said, I absolutely adore programming itself. But not everyone does, and if your ultimate goal isn't to write code as a living, it may be better to sidestep that part of the process.

You are right upto some extent. But what I hear from great founders (such as PG,BFeld etc) is that to go and learn to code yourself. In that way you are not under mercy of a developer to bring out your product. I agree that someone needs to be clear whether he wants to be a web developer or web entrepreneur but what I think if you are a web developer then developing a web based product is easy (?). May be may be not. I have not gone to that deep end. I have almost started a similar website of yours (Startup frontier) but a different niche. The idea has been pushed to a deep freezer. But thinking of reviving it soon.

But thank for the inputs. Check your email.

I'll agree with you there. It also helps a lot when outsourcing developers if you know code yourself, since you can keep an eye on what they are doing and spot bad coders before the project spirals into oblivion.

Luckily, coding may be hard but it is also eminently accessible. One of my big gripes with biology has always been the lack of "community help". In biology, if you need help with something, you A) ask around the lab/department B) find papers, email the authors, pray they answer or C) perform ritual sacrifice and pray to the elder gods.

In programming, you have thousands of great resources all over the internet. I honestly think that everyone can learn enough programming skills to be reasonably competent if they put some effort into it. You persevered through a PhD - I think you'll be fine with programming =D

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