Your worst work is sometimes your best
This is a snippet from the very first PHP I ever wrote. It's also the worst code I've ever written, and to date my largest solo success, 10 years ago. It grossed me just over $50k in its first 18 months.
I wrote a blog post on it. You can read it here.
Sometimes you just gotta try.
Great article! So few people (often me included) are really honest with "why" they're actually building something. Building something for the sake of beautiful code is fine, but being clear about that is key. Otherwise you're going in circles.
Thanks Rob! You've hit the nail on the head. Nothing wrong with the latter. I do it all the time, can be a great way to learn something new! Self-awareness is key, really.
A business model and programming quality are not directly related.
You were successful because you had a good business model. Better code could not have helped if the business model was bad. It's important to stress that's it's two separate domains: engineering and business. If engineering made as much money as business, the richest people in the world would be those who created assembly language, C, C++, Linux or the WWW - not the one for animals, of course.
The challenge for engineers who start businesses is to become good at doing business, considering that all the successful founders have become full-time business people.
Business people seem to only care about the bottom line - not the one in their anatomy, of course.
Exactly. However, the lines can become blurred when you're wearing both hats. Particularly when inexperienced. A glossy product can unconsciously become the business model, which is destined for failure.
Tends to be the case when in reality, one cannot accept the original business model wasn't a good one.
Great post! When I write, I always have a mindset of "writing for the dustbin". It somehow unlocks a faster, less perfectionistic version of me. Of course I'll clean it up and rewrite it till perfection. But the whole process is a lot faster. Quick and dirty, but functional 😋👍
"Writing for the dustbin"... That's a fantastic way of putting it! So true, too. Especially in the early days. It's rare for your work to even make it 6 months before getting altered in some way!
This comment was deleted 4 years ago
This comment was deleted 4 years ago
Oh so common. See-sawing between a monolithic cash-cow and impediment to business growth.
Nearly always to the detriment of developer happiness too. It's a fine balancing act.