trendpreneur

I hate the phrase ‘rockstar programmer‘ as much as the next gal, but here’s a really interesting talk on how to become one from Chris Wagrath, founder of Github.

The most important piece of advice in the talk is specific to programming fame and fortune, and yet not:

Code talks.

If you don’t have any projects going right now, you should spend some time here starting something new. Something you’ve been meaning to do but haven’t got around to. An idea that’s been floating around.

Or just find someone who’s hacking and ask them what they’re working on. Maybe it’ll be interesting enough to jump in on.

If you’re trying to get hired, whether for a project or a long-term job, having published code speaks far far louder than a list of academic credentials as long as your arm. Trust me; I have the latter, but a lot of the code I’ve written isn’t easily ‘out there’ and it’s a lot harder for people to just poke around my work, see for themselves I’ve used the right tools, done the right sort of things, and even made a name for myself. Because as far as the Internet’s concerned, I haven’t.

The point about blogging that Chris makes is more angled towards the ‘fame and fortune’ side of things than necessarily becoming a great coder, but I think it’s a great and oft-overlooked point. People like Joel obviously do well from their blogs, but even if your readers are just your mum and some people on IRC, practicing communication is amazingly valuable.

Plus, if you write a random post about how you solved an obscure issue, chances are when I’m stuck I’ll run across you via Google and drop by to say thanks. I’ve found some cool people that way.

If you want to run your own business, code is the perfect way to find cofounders and employees. I always feel bad for business types who post on forums wondering the best way to meet a cofounder or CTO. Not because they’re business types – we all have to live with our decisions – but because I didn’t realize this was an issue.

This puzzles me a little. If you’re a true button-down MBA sort, you aren’t going to be hanging around sifting through code, you aren’t going to be producing code (giving yourself ‘street cred‘, so to speak), and you’re generally going to be a little lost in this world. I guess these types need people like me who sit in the middle and speak both languages; or to sit down with an O’Reilly book and learn for themselves.

The key message from the talk is applicable to worlds beyond code, though: actions speak louder than words.

Trying to get hired as a writer? Write. Want to make a career out of games? Create. A wannabe photographer? Experiment.

Thanks to the equalising web, we can all be professional amateurs; we can all participate and learn, from tutorials and from each other. We can all create lasting impressions, whether through our blogs, through released Flash games, through Second Life fashion stores, through Flickr sets.

Gone are the days when your employer didn’t have any proof you could actually do the job beyond a degree and references: we’re in the vocational age, so learn a few chords, post videos of yourself playing on YouTube, and become a rockstar.

While the concept of teaching entrepreneurship may seem contradictory, School for Startups has at its core an admirable goal: effectively, to help fledgling businesses learn the stuff that they’ll wish they had known if they hadn’t learnt it beforehand. Don’t worry, that makes perfect sense.

The one-day workshop managed to efficiently condense a lot of the principles around starting a new business into six clear questions, focusing on the large and small aspects of three broader dimensions:

• Markets: How attractive is my product to my customer? How attractive is the market to me?
• Industries: Can I sustain my competitive advantage? How attractive is my industry?
• People: Do we have the skills and experience? How connected are we?

Some of the things picked up from the workshop include, on the market side, a focus on customer benefits not product features. You don’t really know what your customers care about until you have a customer, and you might find that their definition of your products’ benefits might vary wildly from what’s on your business plan. (Interesting to see that Doug Richard seems to subcribe to Yossi Vardi’s “business plans are science fiction” view!)
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Yesterday, I watched something beautiful happen. At our regular Monday meeting for entrepreneurs on the EPIS programme, a new member talked about a decision he was about to make. Bit by bit, people around the table chimed in with comments — it turned out that he wasn’t aware of some of the major repercussions to making this decision, and suddenly he had a whole army of people helping him out, warning him of the pitfalls and giving him a few phone numbers to call. I haven’t been in that position (yet), but it was amazing to see the sheer depth of experience and knowledge flying across the room, all to help out this guy nobody really knew.

A while back, I read a post about Marc Hedlund’s advice on entrepreneurship. One of the things that stood out to me was the comment “Write someone and ask them for help every day”. When I first read it, I was quite sceptical; who’s going to help some random person they vaguely know? However, having seen time and again how people are amazingly friendly and open towards you when they know you’re just starting out on this long and tough journey, how they trip over themselves to pass on advice and help you out, and how they’ll give you honest feedback on stuff you didn’t even realise you needed feedback on… yes, I now agree with Marc. Maybe not in the “sit down and think of someone every day” mentality, but in the spirit of it: advice is great, there are loads of people happy to share their thoughts, and you can often get a new angle on something or avoid a mistake before you make it with a little outside stability.

Another post in this vein is possibly a little too American to work in Edinburgh, but the sentiment is there; take someone you admire out to lunch. Perhaps with a little tweaking this philosophy could be altered to “a nice cup of tea and a sit down with someone who will have interesting things to say”, possibly a little more appropriate for these windy climes.

Ultimately the decisions you make are down to one person: you. (Or you and your co-founders, but you catch my drift.) With all the good advice in the world, people still make mistakes, and that’s how we learn — it’s also easy to be swayed by every new idea or recommendation that comes along, constantly changing direction based on what one person said the other day. Stick to your vision while being flexible enough to incorporate change, and don’t be afraid to ask for advice — it’s a sign of strength, not weakness.

It’s a lot of hard work, with a lot of ups and downs. If you told anyone what it really involved before they started, nobody would be insane enough to start, but fortunately nobody believes it… Whether you succeed or fail at the end of your first year, at least you’ll have had one hell of a time, and you’ll enjoy it.

Wise words from my business mentor on starting up for the first time.