Coding Envy: Why Aren’t I a Bigger Geek

I went to bed with coding envy…and I woke-up this morning still frustrated from having coding envy. Instead of Powncing about my frustrations, I decided to blog about it. I’ve been Powncing too much and not blogging enough (but, I digress)

BarCamp DC was fun and informative, it was also a reminder of everything I don’t know and wish I knew. Being surrounded by what appears to be some of the best and brightest programmers and designers in this town increased the coding envy I’ve been harboring for the last couple of years.

I wish I knew one programming language like the back of my hand…be it PHP, .Net, Java or Ruby on Rails, while having broad knowledge of all programming languages. I would love to “geek out” and talk about it, constantly develop new applications, and test “stuff out”. But, I don’t and can’t. If I could, Why Go Solo would be much farther along.

I spoke with a few programmers who were working on their own Web 2.0 type companies (in their spare time) and they admitted, that although, they can create it; they can’t necessarily bring it to market.

On the other hand, I can bring just about anything to market and am fully equipped and prepared to lead a company, be a spokesperson and continue to grow a concept. This is why people need each other and have to develop the right teams.

Fortunately, I met someone yesterday who mentioned he would help me find a lead engineer for Why Go Solo, and prior to that, I met someone else who agreed to review our code for quality control. We’re moving ahead with the development of our Phase One beta because nothing will stop us from launching. And much like many other Web 2.0 companies, we’re going to start looking for the brightest, and smartest programmers to come join our team.

One of the discussions that floated around throughout the day, and definitely at the after party was the need for more technology and web 2.0 type conferences and events in Washington DC. The VA, MD and DC areas are not without some amazing programmers, engineers, designers and innovative entrepreneurs…and we definitely need to get together more often, support each other, interchange ideas and put ourselves ‘on the map’.

I wonder a great deal about how different things would be if we were creating Why Go Solo in Seattle or in San Francisco…I’m assuming it would be overall a lot easier; from raising funding...to the development and launch, but I’m hoping that doing it here in the DMV will create some commotion!!

I’m sure I will continue to suffer from coding envy, I will continue to be absolutely amazed by programs like Firebug (although, I will never personally use it) and I will continue to wish I was a real geek/nerd. That however, will NOT stop me from getting things done and shaking things up.