Ask HN: What's the best way to learn Python/Django enough so I can hire someone? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What's the best way to learn Python/Django enough so I can hire someone?

7 pointssixQuarks10 comments

I've got a large idea that I'd like to outsource. I'm a product development guy with no programming ability. I'm willing to learn Python enough so that I can properly outsource, but I don't want to spend tons of time on it. Where should I start?

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It really depends. When you say "no programming ability", does that mean absolutely no programming experience ? Do you understand what is involved in programming ? I am guessing no. If thats the case, you might be looking at it the wrong way. The thing is that there is no quick magic for you to be able to have enough programming skill to be able to judge another developer whether outsourced or not.

Unless you really want to program or are very interested, I suggest you try and find someone reliable who can guide you in finding the right developers. Having said that, you can still learn programming on the side but don't make the assumption that by taking a few classes or learning a few tricks, you will be able to judge the quality of a developer.

PS: Go and try out http://www.codecademy.com.

I used this and a bit of playing around, to learn the basics of python/programing: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput...

However, I wonder if learning to program is really the best use of your time. Have you considered finding a co-founder? There are many good programmers out there that are eager to do a startup, so it’s clearly an option for you to use the money you are planning on using to outsource the job to get a co-founder instead, which you can then pay, and that can maybe even put some of his own time in there.

Check out the Django documentation on https://www.djangoproject.com/. The documentation is wonderful and very well written. I learned Django from reading that. As for Python, I'd suggest the Learn Python The Hard Way free ebook/exercises rather than CodeAcademy. There is also Dive Into Python. I am new to programming and used these resources to build some web apps in Python. You should learn enough from these to hire someone to do the work for you.

I can't imagine what advantage a short intro to python/django could possibly give you in trying to hire a developer.

Do you already have partial implementation of your idea in python? Given python, I can see why you're interested in django. But why python specifically?

I ask this because you may have an easier time finding a good developer without a language requirement. That said, I am a python/django dev. If you want some questions to ask your prospects, I can help you out. Just email me.

Email me (osbert@iterinc.com, email also in profile), I'm looking for people just getting started in programming. I think a little guidance goes a long way at the beginning.

For a little more info, here was my Ask HN post looking for people like you: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5057425

You say you're pressed for time. Follow through an intro-to-Python tutorial. Then follow a simple Django tutorial. This doesn't really mean you know Python or Django but it gives you basic orientation and vocabulary.

I can't stress this enough. As someone in consulting I have to continually battle clients on realistic goals for an implementation. It gets to be extremely old, and tiresome. if you have a better understanding of how things work it will help you understand the issues at hand.

http://codecademy.com is a really useful starting point.

as of me, it takes about a year before I got an ability to see where code is good, bad or just ugly

probably, you may outsource it as well: cheap coders make code (months), every milestone you hire a hi rate consultant to audit the codebase (days)

what do you think?

Start by turning around 180 degrees. You're going the wrong way.

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