Show/Tell HN: Finally made it to alpha
I am a self-taught coder. This is my (short) story.
Built first site in geocities in late 90s. HTML w/scrolling java. Pure comedy.
At school, built site to highlight social events in the area. Ended up scoring free stuff and some local DJs called to get events on my site. Got in trouble w/group in my technology entrepreneurship class for skipping (was working on my site). Turned out okay.
Fast-forward #1 - Went to work in the big city and started a niche social networking site, but didn't have much time to work on it--also worried that my coding skills (such as they were) had diminished. Got someone to help me, and got some users, but just couldn't do it and practice law. Too much to manage. Plus it didn't feel as good not coding it.
Interlude of some years - more work
Fast-forward #2 - About a year or so ago, I posted about the Joy of Coding, and also shared a landing page for the app I was building part-time (got some snark for it, but didn't care). Started with an iOS app, but then switched to building the web app first.
Currently in alpha and am getting ready for private beta. It's called Toour (ontoour.com)--so far it's been mentioned in Techcrunch, Tnooz, and in one of AngelList's email updates.
(Full disclosure: I have another developer that helps me with some of the database stuff and other advanced functions. But I can legitimately say that I built most of this site myself).