Ask HN: 32yr. old Healthcare Professional – Learn to Code or Pay Someone?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3489649

by healthrowaway • 15 years ago

9 15 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I have decided to take the leap into the health startup world. The only thing holding me back is that I do not know how to code. It is something I have had on my list of things to learn for a while, but time never allowed it. Now that I do have time and a comfortable income, I am debating whether I should put in the years to learn how to program, or that my time would be better spent befriending and paying a talented programmer to help me in executing my ideas. Frankly, I do not know if it is realistic for me to begin learning at this age considering it will likely take me at least 5 years to reach a skill-level required to implement many of the technologies a modern healthcare startup would need (HIPAA encryption, interfacing with EMRs, etc).

I do not need to start a company this very instant, but I would like to within the next few years. Any advice on how best to concentrate my time and effort would be greatly appreciated.

eternalban• 15 years ago

In your case, domain knowledge beats software knowledge, hands down. I did a quick gig a few years ago hand holding the hospital staff for a new installation of a HIPPA compliant steaming-heap-of-deleted (Java AWT based) "system" in NYC.

I strongly recommend you negotiate with your candidate techie partner. There is no way in hell any geek can pick up the domain knowledge on his or her own. [Edit: not because it is rocket science; there is a lot of jargon, procedures, and other arcane matter that you learn by spending time in the health care field.]

rman6662• 15 years ago

Regardless, I think you should learn something about coding. The first two points in this blog posting are especially applicable, I think: http://asifali.me/post/15394671439/startup-tech-entrepreneur...

The Founder / CEO is also the key product guy: Every great startup needs a product guy for sure. But it is the entrepreneur who is the key product guy in most startups. The CEO / Entrepreneur needs to have a clearly defined vision of every product and must be able to participate in all stages of product design with good attention to details. The organization might have a dedicated product manager or a V.P. of Product but still I really think that it is the founder / CEO or the biz leader that needs to lead this effort providing overall product design, UI metaphor and getting that executed. Given that most startups don’t immediately get to revenues, this would be the single most important thing.

The Tech CEO must know tech: Most startup Founders assume that getting a rockstar tech co-founder alone is enough and the can take care of everything tech. Tech startups cannot do with CEOs or leaders that do not have the tech skills as this limits them from leveraging techology as a strategic advantage of their company. There are dozens of examples that I can mention from the industry where the founder is also the chief coder. While it is not required to be at that end of the spectrum, good knowledge of technology, limitations, applications and having good past experience as a technologist certainly helps.

rman6662• 15 years ago

And, by the way, 32 is not old! I'm 48 and I'm just starting to dive deep on Ruby on Rails (programming is not my profession, either).

bhousel• 15 years ago

That's funny, I'm a 35 year old techie looking to partner with a health care professional on a startup.. If you want to bounce ideas back and forth, contact me at the email in my profile -- I'd definitely be interested in a chat with you.

Also, about programming -- I do think it's a worthy thing for you to learn. If you have some spare time, you can start working your way through the free lessons here: http://learncodethehardway.org/

I personally think that Ruby is a great language to start with, but Python is good too.

As for your expectation of it taking 5 years to reach a skill-level required to be competent in these technologies, well, I don't think it will take you that much time. However, the fact that you are even thinking this way puts you far ahead of most people who are trying to learn to program fast. I'm impressed by your attitude of taking a long-term view of things. As a programmer, I talk to a lot of people who have the mindset of "I have this great idea, I just need to find a techie to build it in a few days," and I can tell from your question that that's not you, which I find very refreshing.

Anyway good luck!

porter• 15 years ago

I studied finance/economics in college and spent 5 years in banking. Eighteen months ago I quit my job and picked up a few computer science courses and simultaneously taught myself python/django. I now have a fully built web application with beta users. In 18 months you can be in a radically different place and if you combine your domain experience with the ability to code up your ideas, you'll achieve a unique position that will give you a leg up. You'll enjoy a product that more closely fits your vision, plus you'll get there faster since you'll be cutting out a lot of communication overhead. While your competitors are trying to bridge the business/technical divide, you'll be a straight up execution machine.

hkarthik• 15 years ago

Speaking as someone who's worked in 3 different healthcare software companies (2 large Co's and 1 startup), you'll be far ahead of your competition in the healthcare space if you know how to code.

Healthcare is full of Product Managers and CxO's who have never written code and I think it's one of the things that holds the industry back from adopting newer technologies, streamlining processes, and attracting talent.

The challenges you mentioned (EMRs, HIPAA) require a lot less understanding of coding and more understanding of how data is structured. Suffice to say if you can read a spreadsheet, you can understand (with a little mental ninjitsu) how a HIPPA or EMR is structured.

If I were a Healthcare product manager with CEO aspirations, I would learn the following:

* SQL (real SQL, not drag and drop queries in Access)

* Ruby or Python (High level and easy first languages rules)

* Java or C# (because the industry speaks these almost exclusively)

* HTML/CSS/Javascript (Healthcare didn't jump into the web with both feet like many industries, so you can learn these last).

AznHisoka• 15 years ago

What specifically do you do in the healthcare field? Doctor? therapist?

healthrowaway• 15 years ago

I am a radiologist.

ZanderEarth32• 15 years ago

I guess it depends on what your startup idea is. Does it have a short window of opportunity for you to capitalize on it? If so, pay someone else to do the work so you can get a product out now, but still learn to code so you can actively participate in the process. Otherwise, take the time, learn and write the code yourself. Even if your startup never materializes, you will have taught yourself a valuable skill.

anamax• 15 years ago

> Frankly, I do not know if it is realistic for me to begin learning at this age considering it will likely take me at least 5 years to reach a skill-level required to implement many of the technologies a modern healthcare startup would need (HIPAA encryption, interfacing with EMRs, etc).

If you were going to do a drug startup, would you think that you had to know how to form pills, package them, run large scale synthesis?

You will benefit from knowing something, but no one knows all that stuff.

> that my time would be better spent befriending and paying a talented programmer to help me in executing my ideas.

I don't know about other people, but the "befrending" terminology sounds vaguely exploitive. Would you use that term to describe how you'd go about working with another medical professional with different skills?

chris_gogreen• 15 years ago

Do both. Learn on your own and pay someone to do the heavy lifting, eventually you can help them while at the same time making real progress. Learning to code has made me a better designer, communicator, manager, thinker. You will not regret it if you learn.

Cacti• 15 years ago

Learn how to code but hire a programmer.

Keep in mind there are wide differences in skill level.

Yes, 4-5 years and most people become OK programmers.

What about someone who did 4-5 years but has been hacking on computers since age 10? Can you expect, at age 32, to reach that same level of understanding? You're a radiologist---you can appreciate the difference in understanding that results in learning things at different ages. Programming in particular is directly related to language acquisition----you may be able to learn Mandarin at age 40 but you'll never get to the level of the 20 year old who knows 10 languages.

What about someone who has done those things but also spent 10 or 20 years writing major software in a more corporate environment?

What you need to avoid is someone who knows enough about programming to get the software done, but not enough to keep it from blowing up or turning into a maintenance disaster. This is because they know how to get a specific thing done but miss out on the larger implications of their code. Then you end up hiring a good programmer and the entire thing has to be scrapped and re-written, which can easily be the death of a startup.

I'm not saying you can't do it. I'm just saying, get a good programmer and do what you can now, but focus on your startup as a whole. You can become a "real" programmer later, when you're 40 and retired ;)

glimcat• 15 years ago

I've been at it on and off for something like 25 years and I still worry that I'm only an OK programmer.

Start learning now, but I wouldn't bet the startup on someone who's just now learning to code.

int3rnaut• 15 years ago

This was a problem I was faced with, and I decided to just do both. So far it seems like the right step if only because I'm able to learn on the fly and there's a bit of a pressure for me to actually pick up some of these things. Though it does have it's flaws.

I'll be honest, when you try both, there will be times in that journey that you completely neglect the "code learning" process because other parts of the startup and life just require all of your time and energy. And as such it gets pushed to the backburner. But you have to keep going back, and make excuses for yourself to learn something outside your comfort zone. It gets harder, not easier because by the time you start learning how to crawl, you want to learn how to run and actually help out but this is a long long process. I truthfully fear I'll never get to the plateau I want to be at, and while those fears are justifiable, don't think about it as just being able to mash code into creating a project--think about it as being able to do your part of the puzzle better. With a growing understanding of the process and tech side you'll be able to contribute, communicate, and create much more efficiently. Chip in when you can, you'll be even more appreciated, but don't be hard on yourself if it never comes. Just keep trudging forward.

A lot of tech people seem to unfairly look down on non-tech founders looking for a counterpart, even if such as in your case you bring a lot to the table, and from the moment you start your endevour you'll always be judged and perhaps ridiculed for not being part of that circle. And that will fuel you to learn, but don't forget what got you to this place in life, and why you weren't a coder to begin with, you've gained and learned many things in your life--all of which will come in handy and bring a different and unique perspective and possible answers to the pains you wish to solve.

Never stop learning. And good luck!

bglenn09• 15 years ago

I agree with the comment about domain knowledge trumping technical knowledge here. It will only help for you to learn how to code, but you definitely do not need to do so. If you have your own capital or sources of funding, it would seem to me to be counterproductive to spend a lot of time becoming proficient in a craft when you could work with a partner on it. Your instinct to find a developer you can work with seems to me to be the correct direction to go in, while you spend some time familiarizing yourself with the development world.

Ask HN: 32yr. old Healthcare Professional – Learn to Code or Pay Someone?

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