Quit Job, Learning to Code

When your uncle the mechanic starts giving stock tips, you know a bubble is brewing.

I think we're already in the middle of a web/mobile/social app bubble.

On your about page, you mention that you're possibly touring? Just curious, have you factored in how much stress you might have going to another town every week? Will you have some friends/coding buddies to talk to during your trip?

I'm really not trying to be condescending, it's just that I recently tried spending a week vacation working on a personal project in a remote place, and I ended up spending more time finding the right coffee shop to work in, understanding the transit system, etc. than I did actually working. In any case, definately wish you the best of luck.

Since I dislike being idle, my first thought is to pack up and move back to my home country to look for a job. But this article represents an interesting path that I may follow myself.

Thanks for inspiring me to view lack of work permit as an opportunity and not a major life crisis.

What type of job did you give up? I'm definitely interested in your story and following your blog.

Tangentially, I'm not really enjoying the learning experience since going through the book (the grapefruit book) is pretty much the same as doing a bunch of tutorials. I still don't feel like I understand the overall architecture of an iPhone app and how the various pieces connect. Anyone have good book recommendations?

Anyway, I'm following the same path (teaching myself to program to work on my own projects). It's been fun (some days I feel like I can do anything with a computer) and challenging (other days I want to rip my hair out and hide in despair). I've been doing it for about a year and a half now.

I think the biggest challenge with non-programmers learning how to program is that it takes an exceptionally long time to get even the most basic functionality running. So work on the most basic thing, and even if it looks ugly in the beginning, just keep iterating on it. I started with Ruby and Rails, but you can't go wrong with Python and Django in the beginning.

If you want to see what lots of time and a little bit of programming on your own can give you, check out my little app www.getsetapp.com.

Good luck man, and let me know the next time you're in NC.

"5:30 AM - Wakeup

5:30 AM - 7:30AM - Read blogs, articles, mail, write blog post

7:30 AM - 12 PM - Code without distractions (turn on SelfControl)

12 PM - 1:30 PM - Run, workout, make some quick food

1:30 PM - 6PM - Ignore desire for a nap, Code & Coffee 6PM - Get out of the house and meet people!"

Do you really plan to uphold it every day? Or is it more like a flexible guide? This times look pretty tight. Did you plan it concerning your personal preferences (early wakeup, how much sleep?), or more on the general work day "normal people" expected schedule. And do you really need to write a blog post every day? Don't you think all this will be a distraction?