Ask HN: How to find a tech partner

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8439727

by shenghua • 12 years ago

5 8 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I have a social media project on mind but I am stuck without a tech expert. Realizing this is a pretty friendly and relevant forum, I would appreciate advice of any kind on how to proceed as I feel I am not on the right track.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8437430

Several approaches I can think of, and am exploring:

1. Learn to program myself. I majored in physics and knew some archaic programming languages like, Pascal, C, Assembly (I once spent a night using assembly language to control a robotic arm to do Hanoi Tower recursion). I was advised learning could take at least 1 year and distract me from the business side of the project. The issue for me is timing and whether it was worth it if I could otherwise find an expert to do it better.

2. Going to an app development agency, on which I have done some research. Drawback is expense as well as unfamiliarity with the industry. Also given the dynamic nature of the project, I feel maybe I need a CTO rather than work for hire. Agency could give me a clear cut beta version to kick start the project though.

3. Looking for independent tech experts who have the expertise and share the interest in the project. This is an ideal scenario for me, though in reality it is not so easy to find such people. I know this forum has many tech experts, so any advice or recommendation is greatly appreciated.

vqc2• 12 years ago

I know what it's like to be you. In the long run, you and your future projects will benefit far more from #1.

There are plenty of reasons why waiting X amount of time will ultimately have little impact on the success of your product. And even if someone launches first, there are plenty of ways that you can still win.

Moreover, based the scope you described in the linked post, it's likely you could learn to chop together what you're looking for within two months of hard work. There are more than enough tutorials on related subject matter that you could use to piece together a functioning version of what you're hoping to achieve.

Go with #1; hope for #3; meh on #2. (I hope someone disagrees and gives you a good alternative viewpoint.)

echoneptune• 12 years ago

I would second this advice of staying away from #2. We tried option #2, but it required a lot of handholding. Not to mention the risk of contractors doing the minimum amount of work to meet requirements. Also, after the contract ended, we were left with nobody in our team with enough knowledge of the code to modify it quickly. The process of reading and learning the code (and to merge it into your own thought process) can take as long as writing the code itself.

shenghua4• 12 years ago

Thanks, that was the scenario I was afraid of.

shenghua4• 12 years ago

Thanks, I just started with Raywenderlich for lack of alternative, but also for the independence. Thanks for the encouragement.

thejteam• 12 years ago

I would hardly call C "archaic". But that's beside the point. If you are a physics person then the problem will not be learning the language. You will pick up everything you need in a few weeks to a month at most.

In my opinion the hardest part is learning about how a web app is put together and about all the moving parts. I don't know of any good resources for that. Please, somebody chime in with something because that is what is holding me back.

vqc2• 12 years ago

If what you want is a web app then I would look for the first-in-class tutorials for a given framework/language. This assumes you are comfortable with a given language.

For Rails that would probably be https://www.railstutorial.org/.

For Meteor, that would be https://www.discovermeteor.com/.

I can't speak to Django or Flask. Or node based platforms like Sails.

I would recommend the Rails tutorial even if you don't ultimately settle on Rails. There's something magical about that tutorial. I recommend it now even though it is not my platform of choice.

shenghua4• 12 years ago

About the moving parts, I am developing a mobile app. I am starting with Swift and hopefully pick up Java for Android later on.

I expect heavy data processing at a backend database, maybe on Amazon or Google cloud. I am not sure what I need there. Maybe MySQL?

Also do I need something extra for interface between frontend and backend?

You have been very helpful. Thanks.

shenghua4• 12 years ago

Yes, I totally agree with you. But I am diving in - hopefully it will be a worthwhile journey.

Ask HN: How to find a tech partner

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