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Should non-technical founders learn to code? (alien.top)

submitted 10 months ago by Darryl-D@alien.top to c/entrepreneur@indiehackers.space

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I think not.

It's counterintuitive to ignore your strengths as a founder (ie: sales, marketing, etc)

The founders I speak with who want to learn to code assume it will help them understand their developers more. This is slightly true, but it's an opportunity cost against time spent selling/promoting the product.

Products fail more due to poor PMF, not because founders can't code.

Hiring developers who can communicate is a bigger force multiplier. (a hard requirement for me)

A technical project manager is even more ideal for providing the buffer between the founder and developers.

Curious how non-technical people on the fence of learning to code feel about this topic.

(if it's a passion you seek, that is a different argument. code away)

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[–] ryantxr@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Learn to code for what purpose? It’s useful to understand how it works and what’s involved.

You don’t just learn to code. You aren’t likely to teach some non-technical person to code to the point where they can contribute to a project. People who are good at code have spent tens of thousands of hours honing their craft. It can be very frustrating and time consuming. It requires extreme focus and concentration.

[–] Darryl-D@alien.top 1 points 9 months ago

It's also something to be said about "markers time" vs "managers time" (from Paul G.)

Coding takes up 4-5hr blocks of focus. As an owner of the company you need to communicate all day, which is operating in 1hr blocks.

Even the best devs who went to leadership I know struggle trying to balance (we all go through the motions of giving up the IDE 😅) and eventually realize it's not worth the context shifting and mental strain.