Comment by FahadUddin92 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by FahadUddin92 | Hacker News Reader

I did following things that helped me grow,

1. My engineering ended in 2013. I was shit broke. I started doing online courses in 2016. Till now I have done 51 online courses in different things and just a month ago I got moved into a DevOps role (from a WordPress developer role). $0 invested in it.

2. The other best thing is growing my LinkedIn network. I grew my network from 200 people to to 15000 people (most of which are founders and recruiters). I invest time in writing articles and sharing new opportunities via LinkedIn.

3. I started reading a lot of books (related to tech and business).

4. I started emailing, tweeting to people (and getting heard by people like Jimmy Wales, Elon Musk, Tim Draper, Craig Newmark, Charlie Cheever) etc. This helped me grow exponentially.

5. Planning ahead. I started visioning life 30 years ahead. What was what I wanted. If your goals are clear, it will be much easier to find the path.

6. Ask, ask, ask. I asked a lot of questions on StackExchange, Reddit -> r/webdev and Hacker News. Whatever I plan to do, I take feedback from these groups. I have also joined Slack channels of professionals from different groups where I talk and take feedback. From ideas to resume review and career guidance.

7. Anyone that could teach me, I made him/her my mentor and listened to them and acted on their advice. Everyone I work with (founders, coworkers etc) see the passion in me and tries to mentor me. The trick is to always be willing to listen to others and keep connecting dots.

Ye gods. I'm glad that is working for you, but that's a little beyond what most people can manage

Thanks!

> 15000 people

I can't imagine the low SNR because of that enabling you to derive any use from it.

Sounds like one of the random LinkedIn requests I get on a pretty much daily basis that I just hit the "Ignore" button on. I guess there are people who accept them. Furthermore, if I do get a random LinkedIn connect request that's immediately followed by someone trying to sell me on something, that's a recipe for reporting spam.

Like I said, I don't randomly add people. I network with founders and recruiters. I never send them a private message until we have something to talk about and I don't do sales.

I have a ton of questions for you but I'll boil it down to several for now:

1) Which courses would you recommend?

Which had the greatest impact?

How would you do things differently?

Would you forego engineering entirely?

2) Suppose one doesnt have friends from school or work, how does one build a linkedin following?

What did you write about?

How did you promote your articles?

3. Again, favorite books? Most impactful?

4. Maybe once you get back to me, we can talk about 4 this sounds super interesting! But maybe you can give me the jist of what you did? For example why did they bother replying to you when tons are reaching out to them everyday?

1. The courses on AI/Machine learning and blockchain (or anything that has do with 4th Industrial revolution) are great. Coursera is great for this.

The greatest impact was the combined effort of being able to do multiple courses (in so many different things) and being able to better understand different programming languages, technologies and marketing (SEO, ads, content marketing, referral marketing, driving sales).

Can't leave engineering. Engineering is the passion. I have a strong belief that all parts of business should be driven by engineers from development to sales and marketing. Yesterday I went to a meetup and I met sales people on the booths who had no idea on the product they were selling worked and how it could help others.

2.) If you don't have friends in school, go out to events, network. Talk to people, add them on LinkedIn. Found someone interesting online? Feel free to email them and get to know each other. Thats how I have built my network. Don't forget the nurture professional relationships. Your network is your networth.

3.) I have a 15000 people following, the articles that are of interest get viral. A few times I tried to post my articles on some FB groups. It did work out well but I don't do it anymore. Best is to just keep writing (you may post on Reddit, FB etc but be aware that you might get banned for self promotion).

3. 'The Lean Startup' and 'The defining decade' are the most impactful books.

4. You can see my Linked: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ifahaduddin/

blockchain voting?

Yes. I am working on a blockchain based voting system too.

'The Startup of You' by Reid Hoffman is another great book.

Thanks for getting back to me!

Would you be able to link me to the exact courses? Or, the authors at least?

Were you trained in engineering, or self taught?

Where do you go to for your marketing knowledge? favorite sites, blogs, books, thought leaders?

How do you combine marketing with your other skills?

Any other advice for a person aspiring to be in your position?

1. You could Google the authors/books/courses. 2. I did a CS degree but I worked almost full time as a freelancer learning technology while I was at University (this helped me pay my University fee and also make extra money for everything I wanted to try like different ventures). 3. For marketing. The basic ideas came from doing my own ventures. When you really need to get the word out, you start using social media, link building, backlinking, SEO, SEM, Ads etc. There are really good Udemy courses for that (try the ones that are free). I read the book called 'Traction' for exploring marketing channels. Its great. Most of the other things come from daily feed coming from different sources. I like gary vaynerchuk's stuff on it these days. 4. I combined marketing by giving business ideas and opportunities for expansion to each employer I worked for. Things like sharing links to good content, doing analysis of competitors and helping young marketing guys (in startups). 5. Read a lot. Don't try to be someone else. Adopt the things you like in someone and keep moving!

For the 4th thing. I got replies because I asked very relevant and to the point questions. If its very specific and they can really help, they respond.

Would you mind sharing where you found leads on technology oriented Slack channels? I'm old school, used to hang out on IRC some 15 years ago, but went silent and passive after starting a family. However my boys have grown and I'm looking into getting back into general or topic oriented technology talks and banter, but have no idea where to start looking for like minded people.

I Googled slack channels list for things I am interested it. Like Front End, Startups, Laravel, WooCommerce etc. You would find 100s of channels. See the ones which have many members. They would have a online form to join them. Join the ones that are free. There would be some who would ask for a membership fee. I personally don't think paid ones are worth the money. https://medium.com/startup-frontier/100-slack-communities-fo...

If you are interested in a particular technology, googling for "slack for <technology>" usually works.

If more interested on cross technical concerns (leadership, regional) I have found the best thing is word of mouth (I know several Colorado slacks, but found them through people I met at meetups). Though again you could try Google.

I have also found that most non project oriented email lists I am on have a link to their slack in the email footer.

One thing I learned along the way is to be very honest to yourself and know that "you don't know what you don't know." When I was at University I always felt like I know it all. But the more you explore you learn so much that you don't know.

What are some of the business related books you found interesting?

Business Adventures, Crossing The Chasm, Hard Things About Hard Things, Only The Paranoid Survives are great books.

Thanks.

Hey, can you mail me (in my profile) would love to chat

Hey! Thanks. I have emailed you.

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