Show HN: Get coached by developers for free(askadev.com) |
Show HN: Get coached by developers for free(askadev.com) |
Terrible choice for an opening phrase to your website. You are putting yourself in a position against SO which IMHO is one of the few websites that are actually really helpful for the community (definitely not a waste of time).
My honest advice, don't get cocky... at least not so early.
But, if it is FREE service, users may misuse (or) mentors may not spend enough time. There should be some benefit structure. When I say benefit, it doesn't mean monetary, it could be anything else. Look at StackOverflow, no monetary benefit, but people go there because "reputation", which in-directly helps in lot of ways. Good luck!
Is this a 1:1 real-time (textual) chat? Voide chat? Another forum like Stack Overflow (which, btw, is spelled just so, not as a single word)? A video conferencing system? E-mail-based service to let "developers" answer questions that way?
In effect, it tells me too little, which causes me to skip it.
What is lacking is one-on-one assistance/short term consulting for software developers/entrepreneurs in other knowledge areas related to business development. Take the StackExchange concept to a new level with individualized assistance.
Have an idea for a web app based on snow removal? Hook up with an expert in the field for a 30 minute tutorial on if your idea has legs, what you need to know and where to start. Want to explore adding operator interfaces to your Lean Manufacturing software but don't know how to design/manufacture hardware on a small scale? Find an expert who can give you an overview of what you need to know to get started and perhaps contacts that can take you further.
I'm throwing ideas out there based on actual needs I've seen people on various software forums having, and I think there is a real need for a service like this. And it's probably a lot more profitable than Founder Dating :-)
I and co-workers often need domain-specific help, usually with annoying or complex tools. I could spend a few hours doing the research, or I could pay a chunk of money for 30 min. of someone's time to walk me through.
Example: I need someone to help me fix some build config problems in Xcode. I'll pay for an Xcode expert to spend 30 min. and walk me through fixing it over Hangouts.
Example 2: I have a lot of experience with autotools[0]. I'd be happy to sign up as an autotools expert and either help people get started with autotools or get people unstuck on autotools problems for a bit of cash. Ideally I'd just set a price, add some tools to my profile, and have money start rolling in.
askadev.com seems close, but right now it feels like it's focused on fuzzier mentoring help between junior and senior devs instead of trading domain-specific knowledge. It might be as simple as just marketing towards that a little more.
[0] I know nothing about autotools, actually.
What always happens with free sites is most of the highest-value people won't offer their services, so it gets focused around less experienced people, which is more efficiently solved by non-live sites like SO.
Sure, it's nice to give time, but giving time privately for only one person to see seems less interesting than answering stuff on SO (or similar dev focused sites) where everyone benefits, not just one person.
This doesn't seem to facilitate that kind of specificity. For instance, I have a question about best practices for setting a mobile version of a desktop single page application. As specific questions they vary from, "Should I create a separate mobile site, splitting my codebase?" to, "Should I treat tablets as desktops with touch events?" or, "Can I rely on testing tools and emulators to test a mobile site or should I be testing on actual devices?"
I don't really want to search for people who claim they know css and javascript and then have to go through a vetting process to determine if they can actually help me.
I feel that the site doesn't hit the threshold where I feel the need to sign up for this by the point where you're asking for my details.
Also, in this age of hackers and god particles, you really should use SSL for apps like this.
first thought - looks nice, ok so, I clicked on "I can help", which is just signup, ok well I want to know what I'm signing up for, do I earn money helping others, is it a time donation thing? so then I clicked on "about" which tells me nothing, then I just went away.
I think the idea is interesting and with some more details I would have probably signed up. Also the "You believe in best practices." was kind of odd to me. I dunno if anyone else thinks this way though, but I don't believe in best practices, I do believe you should know the best practices for your field and understand them, so you know when to apply them and when not to.
It's a good idea - I was thinking open code review would be a super useful thing for many people - but a demo of how it works in practice would be worth a thousand XP points.
I'd be deeply reassured if there was explicit support for the Hacker School Social Rules.
I'm not a professional developer, I often have design-related questions (e.g. what's the best approach to create an app which supports modules - as in code that changed models/views/controllers - a-la wordpress using Sinatra or Rails?).
Can this website help me connect with more experienced developers? Is it only for professionals?
Really guys? C'mon
That mustache is amazing as well.
Power users win a mustache delivered by a founder :).
how is this better then SO?
at least http://www.airpair.com/ puts up their videos for free (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6ZQp3RdEU_9kFNrRB-rIQ) for all to see. You might want to consider that
Maybe this is natural to answering such questions on forums or maybe it's the results of everyone fighting for points and upvotes. My money is on the latter.
Point is there is MUCH greater value in talking directly to an expert so long as you can get in touch with one which is a tough nut to crack.
I don't think a one-to-one chat with an experienced developer is a better solution for noobs, quite the contrary. But time will tell, maybe the guys who sign-up to coach on askadev will never get tired to explain the difference between an integer and a float type over and over and over again.
99%? Not even close. A large majority of unanswered/downvoted questions are HARD questions that people can't answer themselves and opt instead to simply post the first link they found after copying/pasting the question into Google.
Often times when answers aren't accepted because they suck and the poster asks further questions or says they're looking for something more that leads to more downvotes because that's what pisses of the community. Being told they aren't good teachers.
Most people answering questions on Stack Overflow are average students who just want the points by again, posting what they find on Google (which RARELY answers the question) or posting a link to a library without explaining a thing which is also massively unhelpful.
Teachers are what's needed. Not brats on forums.