Hacker/Designer Roommates
roomie.heroku.com
roomie.heroku.com
Technology and creative thinking can both increase shared housing's quality and affordability, even in expensive cities.
One thing that could be done with a large space is repurpose most of it for business tenants during the day. And for tenants themselves who might like to have space to work during the day very close to where they live.
This might be accomplished using moving walls that enable you to compress bedrooms like Gary Chang does in his apartment:
http://unclutterer.com/2010/04/26/video-incredibly-efficient...
There would also locked storage in kitchen and bathroom and systems and personnel to encourage and maintain cleanliness.
The idea is to reduce the costs of things when you aren’t using them, but still maintain privacy and security. Tenants could also share many things they don’t use often, like tools, thus reducing the amount of storage space each person needs.
There would be a system that rents the space out during the day and you would pay a fixed price that covers your compressed room 24/7 and uncompressed for, say, 8pm – 8am weekdays or whatever suits you. Then the remaining space would be leased, with some auctioned off real time so that you can always stay home when you’re sick. And you'd pay less when you're on vacation.
Overall, the purpose is to give young, single people the opportunity to live in a clean, secure, supportive situation at a great price even in a high cost area.
There are a lot of people on this thread who think what I'm doing is a good idea.
Please explain why that moving in with a physics major and a poet is a better idea than what I have proposed?
I, for one, would not like to bring what I do for living to my home. If I need to discuss my CS ideas, I can find likeminded people at other places, (say where I work/study), but living with "like minded" people 24 X 7, is not something I'd like to do. (Unless I am starting a startup or something)
I also have an intense passion for learning and can never see myself as "limiting" myself in one direction.
And, yes... The idea is to start a start-up. Hence why I am posting this on YCombinator. And mentioned Kickstarter.com in my link.
1. You should not live with your co-founder(s). It's important that you can take breaks from the startup/each other by going home.
2. You should be friends with your co-founder(s), but not "best friends". A startup is a bussiness relationship which is incompatible with "best friendship".
This is my experience based on doing my own startup and watching others.
What startups have you helped to be successful?
I am also a bit skeptical of this happening, as software development is by profession more left brain work, where as poetry is right brain work.
Just because two people have 3 or 4 of the same things in common: Text Editor, Programming Language or whatever doesn't make them the same person.
Please look at other replies I have made where I explain that I'm lackadaisical on the requirements.
Also, thanks for your criticism.
There aren't "Ruby programmers", there are just programmers. I honestly try to stay away from people who claim they are language x programmers and those who think one language is superior, because quite frankly they're often not that good.
Honestly are Ruby programmers really better than those who code in C or haskell and honestly what does it matter which text editor I choose to use?!
What would you learn if he knows and use the same things as you? Wouldn't it be a lot better, and a lot cooler, if your roommate could teach you about compilers, creating games or advanced algorithms or something that you don't know already?
It's a great idea to get a roommate with similar interests, but really I think you're focusing on the wrong things.
I happen to know alot. Including Maya/3D Studio and even Final Cut/Vegas Studios.
I am not just a Ruby programmer, I also speak PHP and Objective-C...
I'm not saying a person should ONLY know Ruby, jeez! This person can have other interests and knowledge as well...
I'm sorry that I offended you, I didn't doubt your knowledge.
And my point wasn't that he must only know ruby, but that you should focus more on programming skills and not focus on a specific language. A competent programmer should be able to jump between languages with relative ease as long as they have some related skill.
I guess I started thinking about a friend of my when I read your post. He's someone who says C is the best language in the world, poet is the only worthwhile site on the web and everyone who didn't use linux was bad and wrong. Different opinions was never allowed and he was right all the time.
Maybe it's me but maybe the post does give out a little smugness, like saying you want (prefer) him to love textmate.
But I do feel like you are putting words in my mouth: "are you seriously saying that you know everything"
Where the hell did you see myself saying that?
If you read my other replies - I said I have an intense passion for learning. This means I do learn from other people than myself.
You're right... A competent programmer should be able to jump between languages.
I don't think Ruby is the best programming language in the world - but it has suited me well for what I'm doing and allows me to iterate through development cycles quickly with ease, plus there is a large community built around it in San Francisco.
When something better for the job comes along I'll pick it up just as quickly.
Initially I asked you if there isn't something your roommate could teach you which would be good and I gave the examples compilers, creating games or advanced algorithms.
Where you responded What makes you think I don't already know about compilers, algorithms and game creation?
This I read as a you're being offended and/or missing my question or as if you're telling me that you already know everything about compilers and the something (which alas is everything).
It's great that you like to learn, just like me, and I think it's a great opportunity to learn and to get a roommate who knows a lot of good funky stuff. This is also why I don't think purely focusing on programmers who knows Ruby is a good idea, instead you should focus on good programmers who know stuff you'd like to learn.
I don't want to pick on Ruby, in fact I think it's great.
In many ways two specialists in the same area can teach each other far more things than two specialists in different areas. The problem is until you know a lot learning from a wiki is often the best approach, however the more you know about say java script the more things you can learn with that foundation.
Think of it this way, how long would you need to spend with tiger woods before he becomes significantly more useful than the average golf instructor. And how does that change as you go from a beginner to the pro level.
Right now I'm a programmer living with a mechanical engineer, a finance major, and two biologists. I appreciate the worldly perspective they provide, but the fact is I'm missing out on a lot of news/discussion/debate/learning related to coding.
If you want to be the best, you need constant feedback from other people who share your expertise. For most things in life, there are diminishing returns on how far you can get by yourself. It's not a coincidence that the best and brightest in any field tend to cluster in the same area.
I completely agree.
StarCraft Two is coming out soon!
I think you've missed the single most important requirement for a "kickass roomate" - has got non-work stuff finished and launched.
I would also advise you to scrap all the development/design criteria of tools, and focus on attitudes and passions. Like look for a hacker developer, and a designer that is obsessed with user experience. Any man and his dog can use a collection of tools but that makes them neither a developer nor kickass.
You might also want to put a link to a web product you've finished (you state "i develop web applications not only for work, but for fun. it takes up most of my time.") -- you have launched stuff right? :)
Good luck man.
I might as well mention that I want to move in with some free spirited artsy sciencey hackery types. (Currently living in a 1BR in Berkeley.)
First and foremost, it's about making like-minded friends and reliable roommates.
Ideally, the goal is the create a valuable development team in the process - and then take on fun and creative projects through opportunities like ycombinator and kickstarter.
That being said, I am a Ruby developer. I do think that anyone I pair-program with should be familiar with Ruby.
However, I am not tied to the constraint that I have a roommate that is a Ruby developer.
It's a little tight.
I've updated the website to say Textmate is preferred rather than required.
The "heroku ftw!" remark is just a deployment option that I added in there to express my feelings towards the company. Technically it doesn't matter what platform we work on. I just happen to find them to be a rather unique and creative service that suits my needs.
As far as RSpec - it's a matter of personal preference, but again... technically it doesn't matter.
Anyone who doesn't meet the requirements EXACTLY should not feel unwelcome in sending me an email :)
It's a great selling point too. Many web projects suffer from, shall we say, a bit of friction between design and implementation. I sell myself to potential clients on my respect for, and ability to communicate with, designers.
Knowing a designer's vocabulary will make you better at what you do.
But please stay away from negative comments. I wrote the spec, how can I not have read it?
You're more than welcome to post this on your blogs or show your friends. I'd be super appreciative.
But otherwise mixing two big-ish commitments (living together stuff, work stuff) could lead to some unpleasant friction if things don't go well.
Sometimes you do want a bit of separation between 'work time' and 'home time', not to have to feel accountable to work people about the way you spend your home time and vice versa.
I did live with the freelance designer from my work for a bit though. It worked ok because work is in the office, so pretty clear separation of work time and home time. But not really the same situation as you describe.
Anyway - enough speculation. I'll let you know how it goes :)
In the end it'll depend entirely on the people I guess. Let us know how it turns out :)
Good luck in your home-hunt!
Ahh, how wonderful it is to be a skeptic.
Hacking away all night with some buds is cool and all, but not when your sink is full of dishes and your floors haven't been wiped in weeks ;)
("It's the artist, not the tools.")
binary decision diagrams? Who wants to live with a static analysis researcher? They're not exactly the life of the CS party...
i am a huge fan of the agile manifesto.
Once I started coding - I was hooked. I haven't really done any design work since I started being a developer, but I sure have had a few people ask :)
Good idea. Great execution.