Category Archives: 1 Entrepreneurship

Learning to code: Setting up a small learning group

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I worked for 8 years in the IT industry.

Well, immediately, people think I did a lot of programming.

Actually, no! All I did was handle tools for Data warehousing / Analytics projects – mostly Informatica, Business Objects Data Services, Web Intelligence, Cognos BI, SAP BI, etc.

While I did learn databases out of interest to do my job well and could handle complex stuff (rather, give me anything with databases and I could get it going), when it comes to programming in languages such as PHP or Python, am just a novice. All the stuff I learnt in college is long forgotten.

Now, I find it extremely annoying to be limited by not knowing good programming. I am tired of reverse engineering and applying patches to stuff. Yes, I could hire people and get things going. But, I enjoy programming and would love to be able to build things that I need.

So, here I am learning PHP and a simple, lightweight framework called CodeIgniter. Now, the code at rentals.tapprs.com is maintained by me (Asok built it for us). Slowly, I have started getting a hang of a MVC framework and seem to get better every time I try to add more functionality to our backend. I am also just about beginning to start learning another framework called Laravel, which is a bit more comprehensive.

I realize there are a lot of people like me.

To expedite my learning, am thinking of creating a small learning group consisting of entrepreneurs or wanna-be entrepreneurs who want to get good at coding. 

In the next few months, I intend to

  • improve my server side programming (PHP) quite a bit
  • get more comfortable with a MVC framework like Laravel (already using Codeigniter)
  • improve my CSS/HTML/Javascript to handle the frontend
  • build a web application from scratch

If you are interested in joining a peer-program-and-learn group, do let me know.

That said, if you are a total newbie or someone who is not too keen on being a programmer, it might not be good for both of us. If you know some stuff and want to improve, just leave a comment below and we could get in touch. It could be even better if you are an entrepreneur or a wannabe entrepreneur.

Thick skin

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People will say nice things about you (your startup).

People will say bad things about you.

At times, no one will ever say anything about you.

You will make mistakes.

Things will be up. Things will be down. (Actually, that’s better than things being average).

Just have a thick skin through your journey!

Paying for office space

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At the end of every month, when its time to pay the office rent, I always think of Sameer (Morpheus).

And thank him silently in my mind!

In January, when we were looking for an office space, I was very enthusiastic about getting a nice posh space for ourselves. After all, we already had 6 figure revenues. Also, we would get 5 lakhs from the Morpheus fund.

“We deserve a good space”, I used to think – altruistically!

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The new manager

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Once upon a time, there lived a simpleton!

He came from a far-off village and his education was so-so. Teachers at his modest Government school would often say, “you only know to eat, why do you even come to school”. Somehow he struggled through to complete 8th standard – the equivalent of a degree in his village.

Now that education was ‘done with’, his father reminded him of his family duties – getting any job that would help reduce the family’s burden.

Just like every ‘educated person’ in his village, he too set off to that paradise called Hangalore in search of a career. High hopes and a smile on face.

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Commitment towards customers

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I am sick of salesmen who only bother about the sale.

The insurance guy who sells his policy and disappears. The bank agent who stalked you for a deposit and went missing after  getting your signature. The telephone service provider who charges you for a “Hello tune” that you never opted for and wont refund you. The  door-to-door salesman who doesn’t understand his own product, but is desperate to sell it to every house out there.

I hate them all.

To them, a sale is the end of a transaction.

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The unsexy side of startups

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A discussion I had with friends triggered this post!

To them, what I did after quitting my job appears cool.

It’s cool to be able to say that you run your own company! Right?

That you neither have a boss nor an appraisal every year!

That you are the master of your own destiny!

And there are no more Monday blues!!

Yup. I think it is awesome to say yes to those questions. However, beneath the cool exterior, there’s a different beast. There’s reality to boot!

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