Of startups and why we are shifting gears
We started the CodrSchool program about 2 years ago, and this coming batch will be our 3rd. We had worked with 8 students already in the past, grouped in 2 batches.
I remember our goals back then were to give students a chance to try and experiment what it is like to work in a startup and build a real product. For us, a startup business is something operated out of the garage, though in our case it was our apartment. Our office in AS Fortuna (Mandaue City) won’t technically qualify as an apartment though, but we also sort of lived in there. Some of us lived in there full-time, while the rest just spent a lot of time. Before that office, SIMPLETEQ also started in my apartment, with my wife and 2 little babies (yes, real live annoying buggers.
Our passion for startups goes a long way back, starting in the late 90s, where most of us were graduating college students. I couldn’t quite pinpoint everything what draws us to startups, however i can name a few,
- Freedom and free reign, no rules, no company policies, nothing, nada
- The need to prove that despite the odds we can bootstrap a startup business
- We also don’t want to wake up early morning to go to work at 8am and stop at 5am. For us, that doesn’t feel natural.
After our initial experience in running SIMPLETEQ and then conducting the CodrSchool program, we realized that not everyone are fit for a startup. I am not referring to the technical requirements of working in a startup, since i think it’s more or less the same as in working on any type of company. Rather, the mindset and perspective of what it is to work in a startup.
For starters, startups don’t have money at all, at least the ones we can start (i’m sure other well funded startups exist). Given that, startups can’t provide any sort of security nor great employee benefits, even the assurance of the next payroll. If there is such a startup that tries to sell these benefits, then they are either well funded and has the cash to burn, or they’re bluffing (i hope it’s the first, since having money in a startup provides some flexibility, though it has its downside as well).
You’ll often find people involved in startups as freelancers, doing multiple projects at the same time, with a 1 or 2 as the main gig and others as sidelines. We realized that this is not something a lot of people embrace right away, unless that mindset of becoming a freelancer already exist.
Similar to the freelancing mindset is Entrepreneurial. An entrepreneurial person doesn’t mean he/she will always like to start a business on his own, but rather, someone who understands and appreciates opportunity; and the cost and return of pursuing it.
Also, startups almost always equals to risk taking. Of course, not stupid risk taking, but rather a good disposition towards failure (and of course success as well).
Anyway, that experience tells us that the 2nd goal of CodrSchool, which is to guide and help students become great programmers has a much broader reach and much more practical to do.
We believe that even if students don’t like to work in a startup, the process of becoming a great programmer doesn’t care if you work at home, work in a startup or work in a big software company. The kind of work also don’t matter, whether it’s working for an internal product, or a customer-facing product or on a project for a client. The same level of expectation exists on what is a great programmer.
So now, on our 3rd try, we’re going to focus more on programming and software engineering skills. On my next posts, i will outline what we think about programming, what are the skills, what is software engineering and what anyone needs to do, at a minimum to become a great coder (or programmer, whatever suits your fancy).
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