My coding is completed

I just spent 9 months launching the Android version of SoundTracking. This is the best piece of code I have ever written. It is not perfect, by any means, but I was challenged to the max and this brought out the best in me. The reason I am leaving the project is very simple, I live in NYC, and the team is in SF, and I believe it is better for me and for them to find a local Android dev.

I have spent the better part of the last 10 years writing computer code. My goal for the future is to write less code and focus on my interpersonal skills and to be more involved in builds of physical products.

Some things I’ve learned along the way:

Code is the result of your ability to collaborate. The more efficiently you collaborate with your teammates, the less code you have to write. Younger programmers will not understand this, most of them (including myself) believe they can brute force code through any problem, but please try to avoid this. If you have no teammates: get them. No man or woman is an island.

Release as often as possible. Release every day if you can: this will force your teammates to collaborate with you, don’t let them bully you into releasing less often, their anti-social tendencies must be fought against with every tool you have ( charisma, charm, honesty, honor, building rapport, being in their face, and even bribery such as with beer, lunch, etc).

As an entrepreneur, the same still applies. Instead of writing code, first go through the following checklist:

1. Have you vetted the idea with any other human being (overcoming the incorrect fear of releasing an idea, and overcoming the incorrect trajectory of the solo-preneur).
2. If you have no one for step 1, visit co-working spaces, bars and work on your social skills so that you can make step 1 happen (this could take a few years, and will be well worth it)
3. Have you met a graphic designer?
4. Have you met a co-founder?

Navigate by your intuition more. Google Maps is not intuition. Yelp is not intuition. Try shutting off your digital devices for a while and see where you want to go. Just like Luke Skywalker stopped looking at his faulty on screen display and “used the force”.

As a career, coding is a means to an end. Every few years, paradigms shift: the desktop computing bubble was followed by the internet bubble, and now we are in the mobile bubble (the next bubble will be robotics / 3d printing ). Another example: perl -> php -> ruby as the easiest language to code websites in. You really have no hope of keeping up with the constant paradigm shifts. Younger programmers will latch on to the newest trends and make you obsolete. You cannot always stay on top of every new language/skill-set, nor are you expected to. Your best bet is to get out of coding and into management or into entrepreneurship as soon as possible.

Do other work besides coding: try working as a cook in a kitchen, as a waiter. Try doing something that directly pays you money because of your ability to interact with other humans, not your ability to interact with a turing machine (moving into product management counts). Try building things with your hands, working with wood, soldering metal. Learn how to dance with a partner (instant ROI!).

With that. It is on to new ventures!  And if you are an Android Dev, hit up the guys behind SoundTracking: Schematic Labs, you just might have a phone call from me to see if you have what it takes!