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24 Comments

How don't you end up lonely as an indie hacker?

I'm learning how to code atm and have startup experience from trying to build a physical product. Now learning how to code is already quite lonely, how could I get in touch with more like-minded people? How do you not get lonely?

  1. 4

    The only tip is don't stay alone in your bedroom, that'll ruin your productivity in the long term - find link-minded hackers and work with them instead.
    I'd recommend moving to a co-working space and find other hackers working on their own projects! If you can, you could even travel and stay in a co-working for 2-3 months before moving to the next.

    1. 1

      thank you sir, will do. Sucks that my city is not really tech-oriented. Meaning the people there tend to not be like-minded in that sense. But yeah I'll move probably.

  2. 3

    Send long-form replies to people’s blog posts and most of them will happily reply. You’ll make some friends this way if you keep at it.

      1. 1

        You're welcome! :)

  3. 3

    Host an indiehackers meetup for your area. I did this and met a bunch of current friends and indiehackers.

  4. 2

    You can communities on discord,reddit,Stack overflow etc ..

  5. 2

    Find a coworking space near you and start going there for at least a couple weeks. Become friends with the staff, start recognizing the regulars, learn how to approach newcomers. Even if it makes no sense to pay for a desk and wifi when you have a perfect setup at home. The working atmosphere, the noise, the constant flow of new interactions, it all makes a huge difference and is totally worth the money and effort. If you find the right place.

    So make sure you pick a good space. Try as many as you can. Good chairs, good coffee, good internet are important, but what you're really looking for are friendly and welcoming people. Some coworking spaces attract only Instagram influencers, or dropshippers, or fake entrepreneurs who are there just to pump up their ego. Avoid those. Find something that has a healthy mix of all kinds of people but make sure there is always a group of like minded coders like you around.

    1. 3

      I'd add to this. Joining a coworking space for me was daunting and honestly the only time I met like minded people was when I was able to present my mind.

      I'd recommend talking to the staff, events coordinator and present a talk. Sometimes if you don't know what you can give a presentation on, you can ask the staff what has been popular in the past, you can tell them about your experiences and ask if anything is of interest.

      1 hour talks sound daunting, but I like to break them down. 20 minutes of a story, 20 minutes of Q&A. (bring questions) I spend 15 minutes before the talk starts talking to people and asking what they do, why they are there. I get some questions out that and write them down so I can start the Q&A section off with questions instead of "anyone have questions?"

      Also many coworking spaces will want more than just talks. Try to create workshops or meetups or panels.

      Hosting a meetup is super easy. The meetup is a singular: Topic or type of person and just say hi, everyone introduces each other. you can write everyone's name on a card and pick them one by one for 1-on-1 chats, if you want to do break outs.

      Workshops can be fun and exciting for others who want help on a problem. The workshop is all about the problem, (not the solution which is usually what a talk is focuses on)

      You can also do Panels. If you find 3 like minded people who speak better than you in front of groups, host a panel of them talking. All you need to as host is introduce each of them and ask them 3-4 questions.

      I find that getting in front of even a dozen people who go to your working space can be way easier to meet people than approaching 12 people who want to work on their own stuff.
      I will reiterate: ask the staff. They know what works, what ppl want, what people will show up for. It's a lot easier to make something people want to attend.

      1. 1

        thank you that's a cool idea!

    2. 1

      Thanks a lot, will do!

  6. 2

    I don't mind loneliness, but I'm very introverted by nature, so that probably helps :)

    1. 2

      Fair enough, thank you :)

      1. 1

        On a more practical note, there are often groups of programmers/sysadmins in larger cities who like to hang out together, do presentations, etc. Try to search something like that + name of your city on Google, FB, etc.

        1. 1

          will do that, thank you

  7. 1

    How long have you been learning to code? I quit my job to learn to code a few years ago and I remember those few early months as being some of the most joyful times of just deep learning and trial/error of getting things to work.

    Having a partner / spouse helps. Having a pet helps. Taking fitness classes with other people also helps as it gets you out of the house at least once a day. Good luck.

  8. 1

    There're already some really good suggestions here, so I'll just add that whatever you choose, go for creating real relationships. Even though you join a coworking space and there's lots of people and buzzing going on, you still have to make an effort to genuinly connect with people. In my experience there's a lot of superficial chit-chat and "what can you do for me" request when attending meetups. Less at coworking spaces, but it still happens. Look for the ones how are actually interested in having a conversation and expand on those.

    Best of luck 🙂

  9. 1

    You are not lonely if you have clients :)

  10. 1

    There are a couple of good slack groups you can join!
    indie worldwide comes to mind: https://indieworldwide.co/
    Twitter is also a good one, ppl on there do 100 days of code. You can make new friends that way! Feel free to follow me if you want @HuaTweets. I mostly share design, build in public, and chit chat :D

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