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40 Comments

I'm a bit scared to join the Indie Hacker community

Hey everyone!

I just joined this community. I've been wanting to join for a while, but have been kind of scared for a multitude of reasons.

Imposter syndrome is the big one. All of you guys seem so amazing, traveling the world while building your own business and having 5 other income streams on the side. It's incredible, and it's where I want to be too. But I feel like I don't belong - I'm building my first major product at the moment, and whilst I have been given validation from the Twitter community and even approached by a huge software company in the UK, the product doesn't seem 'good enough' or something.

Another fear of mine is that I'm a woman, and communities that generally consist of tech bros haven't been kind to me. I'm a nomad (working remotely) and the nomad community is kinda gross from my experience so far. I mainly avoid other nomads now, and it's put me off joining other communities.

I'm glad I'm trying to get over these fears and accepting that I AM an indie hacker. I'm building something on my own with the plan of making a profit. I shouldn't be scared of announcing my product to other amazing makers. And I've heard good, accepting things about this community.

If you want to check out what I'm building, have a look at the website! thecodinginterview.com. And check me out on Twitter? Is that a thing people do here? twitter.com/catmcgeecode

Thanks for reading. I look forward to meeting some of you and learning from your experiences.

  1. 10

    Plenty of ladies here and we can always use more :) @csallen and @rosiesherry have done a great job making this an inclusive space.

    If you need a boost come hang out with us in the Indie Women group. Excited to see what you're building!

  2. 5

    Welcome aboard!

    From what I've seen, there are more beginners than successful founders here, it's just that when browsing the "Top" section you'll mostly see success stories.

  3. 4

    Hey Cat, welcome to IndieHackers!

    The Coding Interview looks awesome. Maybe, down the road, there's an opportunity to collab with my tech mentorship site mentorcruise.com?

    I hope you can give IndieHackers a chance. In many ways, it's one of the friendliest communities I've encountered. Sure, there's always black sheeps, but the return on energy I've put into helping others on here has always paid off!

    The leadership of IndieHackers is diverse, you will see @rosiesherry around a ton, she's a real powerhouse! I think it makes a vast difference – bro-like behaviour is often called out.

    I can fully vouch for IndieHackers. If you ever want to connect, I'm on Twitter and available via E-Mail, both on my profile.

  4. 3

    What have you faced from Nomad community (what exactly do you refer to in this case) that led you feel gross towards it?

    Very curious

    1. 4

      A few things.

      • Nomads seem to never believe I’m traveling on my own, and ask where my boyfriend or husband is and what he does instead of asking what I do
      • I’ve been asked many times when I want to settle down, by other nomads who are living the same lifestyle and want to do it forever. It’s like they assume this is just a fun thing for me but soon I’ll need to get married and have kids, but they won’t
      • It takes forever to explain that I work remotely. Even though they’re fellow nomads, they seem to want to think I’m on vacation, or I’m doing some sort of internship
      • There are so many comments on my looks by other nomads, and they’d rather talk about that than what I do or my travel stories
      • Once they realise I don’t want to have sex with them, they either get angry at me and ghost me, or spend way too much of their time trying to convince me. I think this comes from the fact that not many nomads are solo women

      I’ve met lots of lovely expats and other travellers, but for some reason the nomads I’ve met haven’t been too respectful. I’m sure there are plenty of great people in the community out there, but I haven’t found them yet.

      1. 1

        Thanks for sharing!

        Naturally, I don't experience this
        so the perspective is sobering

  5. 3

    Welcome Cat, I'd like to tell you the story of a friend of mine, a fellow space enthusiast.

    A dozen years ago she was a military pilot and we geeked out about space on the same online discussion board, read space books, and attended lectures by astronauts and experts.

    She had been dreaming of flying into space since she was a little girl. A few years after I met her, she became the first Italian female astronaut, was blasted into space, and spent 200 days in orbit. Now she's training for her next adventure in space.

    She made it in a field with a majority of male astronauts, but had no trouble fitting in and earning everyone's respect. I like to think Indie Hackers is similarly welcoming.

    You can reach for the stars, too.

    1. 1

      This is a great story, thank you for sharing.

  6. 2

    Awesome to see you here (following you on Twitter)!

  7. 2

    Cat is already an IndieHacker in my opinion, she launched few sites such as https://errorsshouldneverpasssilently.com/ and I am eagerly waiting for the tinder kind of music discovery app for Spotify.

    Welcome here Cat, you migth have reached the right place at the right time. I learned a ton of non-technical but essential things required from the community. I hope you have the same or better experience here.

  8. 2

    Welcome! To me, IH is one of the best community out there. I hope you'll thrive here.

    For the impostor syndrom, I think we all have it, more or less. Comparing yourself to other is meaningless, compare yourself to your previous self. I try to work on this idea every day.

  9. 2

    Hi Cat

    Welcome to IH! As far as I noticed, every one is really nice here. :)
    Your website looks very clean as well and I think there's definitely a market for it.

    I do think it's a pretty competitive market though, if you don't mind me giving a little challenge; what exactly does your website do to separate itself from the other coding interview prep websites and the hundreds of articles/videos/courses out there that help people to prep for the coding interview?

    1. 1

      Thank you! The community seems to be great so far.

      Preparing for the coding interview is really difficult. It seems like there are endless resources out there and, at least for me & people I spoke to before starting to build this, I never know where to start or when I’m ready. The Coding Interview puts it all in one place, with an easy course to follow and lots of practice questions. It gamifies the whole experience, similar to Duolingo, and takes the stress away.

      1. 2

        Sounds good! I can see how that can be helpful. LeetCode is the name I've heard the most for code interview prep but it can be quite overwhelming & hard to know where to start.

  10. 2

    Nice product, Cat. I been doing some course on Udemy on that subject. I'll check it out 👋🏼

    1. 1

      Which specific course got your attention?

      1. 1

        On Udemy I am doing the Javacript algothighms and data structures masterclass. So far not bad. Cat's site seems like something that would support my learning in that course

  11. 2

    hi Cat and welcome to IH!

    I'd like to offer two thoughts:

    Firstly, I started off the year scared of talking to people in online forums. I was (and am) outgoing in real-life, but I felt awkward commenting on forum threads, mostly due to having been on the receiving end of some serious snark the handful of times I ventured to comment (elsewhere) in the past.

    But this sort of toxicity doesn't happen on IH. This is a testament to the community and the fine people who manage and moderate it. These days I feel increasingly at ease talking online — thanks to the good-faith interactions I've been having here and in a couple of other civil communities where the prevailing attitude is helping another soul out instead of getting a cheap laugh.

    So just dive it, start asking questions and offering opinions here, and you'll do great :)

    --

    Secondly, the big successes are front-page news here — that's what gets upvoted and that's what provides the page-load tidbits of inspiration as you navigate around the site. But these peoples' results in no way, shape or form represent the typical person's situation here. I strongly suspect most IH members are closer to the start of their journeys.

    PS I'm also from Ireland. Galway, but living in Berlin.

    1. 1

      Thank you! Everyone commenting here is definitely giving me more faith in this community. I'm glad you've become more comfortable interacting in online forums! I used to be scared too, but forced myself out of it (which is when I discovered the toxicity of other communities lol.) but I'm really excited to get to know Indie Hackers more.

      Also -- I'm heading to Berlin in a couple months! Maybe I'll see you there!

      1. 2

        Cool! Feel free to ping me for lunch when you're in town.

  12. 1

    Hey Cat! It's so lovely to hear from you and about your experience. I'm also a woman and "indiehacker" but I still hesitate to call myself an indiehacker, as I've yet to make any money off of a digital product. I think the tech world can be an overwhelming place, and on top of that, everyone seems so confident and steadfast in launching their own products here at IH. I just wanted to reach out and say that I relate to your experience and encourage you to keep going as well. I'm doing more research about some potential websites to develop, but I've been really doubtful and scared, especially when it comes to posting it so publicly and product hunt and etc... This post just reminded me that I need to trust my intuition and just ship it! I followed you on IH and if you ever need motivation or someone to talk to please reach out!

  13. 1

    Hi Cat,

    once I was told "hey, you are a lady, a pretty one, well you are probably a sales person who's trying to sell me something!"

    Was I offended?
    I was.

    Did it me me stop?
    No, it didn't.

    Working on my own way is tough, defending your principles is tough
    But the fact that you live a truly yours life is what makes you feel comfortable, always

  14. 1

    Welcome aboard! And congrats for The Coding Interview, looks like a product with a lot of potentials, even if the coding interview process itself is really broken these days. Maybe you get to collaborate on fixing it!

  15. 1

    at least you have posted your product here, but I am still afraid of sharing my product here ;-(

    1. 1

      I’ve started talking about the products I’m working on recently and it’s been amazing. It’s so motivating and validating to see people excited about my ideas and asking how I’m getting on. And no one’s stealing my ideas, lol. Why are you afraid?

  16. 1

    Hey, Cat

    Welcome to IH

    I was scared in the beginning as well seeing how successful everyone is while building their own business but the community is very supportive

    You are an Indie Hacker now, you made your first official post

  17. 1

    I think you are in the right place. We are all trying to find those baby steps to profitability.

    I have only just joined a couple weeks ago but the community here has been great to me. You get what you put into it.

    Signed up for thecodinginterview.com.

  18. 1

    Awesome, Cat, welcome! Your educational posts and videos over on dev.to are an amazing resource for early stage coders. You're doing great work to level the playing field, thank you! 🙏

  19. 1

    Hey! Don't be afraid! Welcome to the community! I'm happy you're joining us and building. I opened your website on my laptop I will check it out and offer feedback later.

  20. 1

    Hey @catmcgee, welcome to IndieHackers! I actually posted something very similar when I first joined, I totally understand and appreciate what you're feeling! Right now, I am trying to feel my way around the forum: "listening" into threads, trying to reply to threads I feel like I can contribute to (like this one!), but I totally get the imposture syndrome feeling. Just remember: you're here for a reason and your experience and expertise are absolutely valuable!

    ps. I hope to see you in the Indie Women group too.

  21. 1

    Hey Cat! 👋

    Welcome! I felt the same way as you when I started back in April. There were so many great people on IH and I thought I could never get followers or likes on my posts. However, after I got to meet the kind people here, I was more comfortable posting. (Even if it got little to no views)

    After 3 months of being an Indiehacker, I have over 250 followers and 1200+ points. I never thought I could make it here but I put in the hard work and it payed off. And TBH, it wasn't very hard to do at all. Just speak your honest feelings/what you are working on right now and you are bound to get people interested.

    Wish you the best :)

  22. 1

    Hey Cat, welcome 👋, I'm Yehuda

    I don't want to invalidate your concerns because they are all legitimate and also, they're very much a thing in other communities.

    BUT, this is IndieHackers. This is the first online community I've been an active member of in a very, very long time and it has paid dividends in knowledge and motivation many times over.

    Everyone here is super nice and supportive, you'll really be hard pressed to see any negativity. And for women, well, first of all, we have the amazing @rosiesherry as our community manager. There's also the Indie Women group which seems very active and is a great place to find other women to connect to. But, even connecting with the men, which I am one of :P, shouldn't be too intimidating, hopefully.

    As I said, everyone is super kind and supportive and just here to help each other grow. Also, not all of us have 5 different side incomes and are making enough money to support ourselves, yet 😉. But that'll come for all of us and in the meantime enjoy and welcome to IndieHackers, we're glad to have you!

    I'm not gonna comment on your product cause I just want to say hey and welcome you but, if you're curious to know what I think, you can email me and I'll be sure to let you know. Or I'll see you around and comment on one of your next posts.

    1. 1

      Thanks Yehuda! Yeah, it seems so far like this community is different from others I've been part of. Excited to learn more :)

      & I'll take you up on that! Emailing you now

  23. 1

    Hi Cat,

    The site didn't load up for me for some reason, ill have a look again once it up and running.

    The fact that you are a female tech / programmer is awesome, the industry needs more folks from the opposite sex for sure. I think you will find yourself accepted in the community a lot easier then you might think. The tech industry should be a leader in terms of job equality.

    As for your apprehension of the IH community, I hear you, but dont be. We're not all amazing, behind all the wins (if any), there are a multitude of misses along the way, those stories are often not shared.

    At the very least posting on IH is like self help, you may not get a reply, but there's always someone listening.

    Enjoy the ride, and best of luck with your process.

    psst. my project is Sinosend File sharing app, beta launch.

    Cheers
    Rishi

    1. 1

      Hey Rishi! Not sure why it's not loading for you, I asked a few friends to check and it's worked for them. Can you try again? Maybe it's slow, which wouldn't be so good haha.

      Thanks for your comment. Your project looks awesome!

      1. 1

        Cant share a screenshot here, so using our own app

        Dont think its slow, just not loading for me in Hong Kong

        https://www.sinosend.com/d/N23JWV7

        is it blocked in some countries?

        ill be happy to do more testing if you need.

        1. 1

          It's a DNS issue. I switched providers yesterday! Thanks. Should be fixed soon.

  24. 1

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