Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit | more johndavid9991's comments login

It was not a complete transition, but I decided to build my own Software Development company instead of working as a software engineer for another company.

I started this company along with 12 other co-workers. We are in our 30s, I am turning 34 this year. In the last three months, we have focused on training people. We have a team of 45 people now from overseas.

The main reason for building this company is for me to have more control on my own time, that's the idea at first, but somehow my passion for software engineering has been rekindled. There is something about training people, I enjoy working with our developers and seeing them grow.

I find it hard to switch to another industry or field of work at this age. Having your own family, with the kids and other responsibilities, makes it hard to reinvent yourself. You are not as free as before when you are still single and have complete control over your time.


Coding Dojo, the Bellevue, Wash.-based software engineering bootcamp operator, has been acquired by Perdoceo, a publicly traded Illinois-based company that owns online academic institutions including Colorado Technical University and American InterContinental University System.


In our company, we have people who are with us for 7 to 11 years now. Our Mid to Senior Devs are with us for at least 6 years on average.

Culture plays an important role in keeping the people, it's not always about the money.


> Culture plays an important role in keeping the people, it's not always about the money.

Absolutely.

I was at my previous employer for seven years, mainly due to the fantastic culture.

In 2020 that company took a $45M series A investment that rotted the culture of the company from the inside out.

Today, the culture that remains at this company doesn’t reflect what kept me at the company, and most who were integral to the culture are no longer with the company.

It was good while it lasted.


Can you to tell me more how that funding changed people? I have an idea but I am curious to learn it from you.


It’s not that the funding changed people, rather those that built the company were either replaced, left, or laid off.


Same here.


Having grit and working hard are important recipes to be a successful entrepreneur. However, knowledge and experiences will allow you to work smartly, better size people, cut learning curve, and be able to set smart goals.

Yet, most of the time, it seems to be a combination of both but it does not stop right there. Being knowledgeable and having the right attitude for sure helps, but there are other factors such as luck, timing, location, having the right team or people around you, and a lot of uncertainties.

There is no silver bullet for this question. Becoming a successful entrepreneur is more of a process which will vary for every people.


I appreciate the feedback and will try to get better at listing my tasks. One thing that I will struggle to copy is figuring out the best schedule that works for me.

Our team finds it hard when there is too much flexibility in the schedule when working remotely. If you are more of an individual contributor, flexible schedule works, but the setup of our team is not like that due to the nature of our projects.

To solve this, our company set working hours that we would follow. However, not all comply with this since some of my co-workers are still going out for long errands.

There is also a lag due to technical issues and the overall setup of remote work where you don't know what's going on with your co-workers. Questions that would typically take a minute to answer if you are working onsite take minutes or sometimes hours to be resolved.


hi @tluyben2, what is the nature of your work and how do you measure your output?


@uuyi thank you, starting with a small reasonable task or things that take ten minutes seems to be a good trick. I will try this.

Whenever I start my day, I try to finish some of the complex tasks right away, thinking the rest of my todos are easier. Then I would find myself spending time on other things distracting myself from being overwhelmed, and ended up achieving nothing or incomplete work


@pgt, yes, throughout the pandemic, I work from home alone. Before that, I worked at the office for more than 8 years


what are the pros and cons so far?


pro is it’s tuned for engineering process, can be well integrated with GitHub PRs, so far so good


Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: