Different: Most programmers aren’t entrepreneurial

I’m doing it wrong.

Today I came to a realization: I’m different.

The difference between me and other programmers cannot be understated.

Despite being a programmer, I also happen to be outrageously good at coming up with ideas and envisioning products. I always have 100 ideas running around in my head. I’m creative, resourceful, and visionary.

And I’ve been working with programmers the wrong way. I’ve been telling them to design the product. I’ve been telling them to have a vision for the way it should work.

That’s because I thought all programmers were like me. They’re not. I’m different.

Today, I’ve learned through realization– much to my dismay– that most other people don’t think the way I do. They don’t have 100 good ideas. Some of them have, at best, a handful of awful ones. Most surprisingly, some people genuinely don’t have any ideas.

We couldn’t be more different. The gulf between us is immense. I don’t think there’s any way to bridge it. I can’t teach other people the kind of incessant inspiration that I have.

We’ll have to accept our differences, and work through them. I need to understand them. I need to encourage others’ strengths. I need to motivate. Inspire.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not pridefully claiming that I’m better than everyone else. As it turns out, I actually suck at programming. So it’s not that I’m any better; it’s just that I’m drastically different.

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Have you ever tried outsourcing development work on sites like oDesk, Elance, or Freelancer?

I’m relatively new to the process, and I’d like to chat with others about their experiences.

4 Responses to “Different: Most programmers aren’t entrepreneurial”

  1. Paul the Programmer says:

    Hi, I’m Eliot! I am amazing! Creative! Inventive! I brim over with ideas, enthusiasm and innovationy goodness! I am unlike other programmers, those plodding literal clods, with my hundreds of new and exciting projects.

    Oh, if there were only hours enough in a day to do all the marvelous things I want to do! I’m not better, just fantastic! You’re not worse, just boring! Yay yay yay MEEEEE!!!

  2. Tuan says:

    Too many ideas so that you have to outsourcing it ??

    BTW, I don’t think you suck at programming.

  3. John says:

    Get over yourself.

  4. ya, better to know about others’ strength and work with them instead of telling them to think. Everyone is different. Everyone has weak and strong things inside them. Motivate them. Inspire them. Encourage them. :) You are a rad boss :) Keep doing it and keep learning :)
    I inspired some students at Tan Tao university in Long An on my cycling trip to Mekong Delta. I was glad that they heard about my travel stories and life stories and they did not feel that they were failures. They start to love and appreciate what they are doing and having. They somehow can see the life’s value and they are working hard for their dream. Just a short-time talk, I somehow let them know that they can do whatever they want; they can create anything they want and more importantly, they are living their lives – which is not usual much for a normal Vietnamese :)

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