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Hacker/Designer Roommates
- Whitespace 16y agoGreat idea! I'm looking for the same situation but in NYC (and because I'm homeless).
- zakkap 16y agoAh - unfortunately I just relocated to SF from Brooklyn :P Good luck in your home-hunt!
- thomasreggi 16y agoI am in NYC too! Except I got a home. It's hard finding people interested in design, programming and startups.
- zakkap 16y agoI promise we'll create a "productive techy-roommate finder" once I find the right people :)
- Whitespace 16y agoThat's a great idea: techroommates.com. I would seriously pay for that.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- thomasreggi 16y agoIt's not only about the roommates part, its about collaboration and not only with the tech industry (film making, music making, blogging, programming, etc). It's hard to collaborate with people who have the same goal as you in general (unless moneys involved upfront).
- paul167 16y agoI'm actually looking in NYC right now as well. We should chat!
- Whitespace 16y agoAwesome! You can send me an email at gmail.com (same username)
- zakkap 16y agoThanks for the support everyone :) You're more than welcome to post this on your blogs or show your friends. I'd be super appreciative.
- arach 16y agoGreat idea man. Keep us posted.
- younata 16y agoGood luck man.
- mwsherman 16y agoWorking with designers is an important and underrated thing for developers. I worked at a design firm for years and learned an awful lot. It's a great selling point too. Many web projects suffer from, shall we say, a bit of friction between design and implementation. I sell myself to potential clients on my respect for, and ability to communicate with, designers. Knowing a designer's vocabulary will make you better at what you do.
- zakkap 16y agoI agree. I don't know if you checked out the link, but I designed and coded that in about one hour. I may not be a designer - but I definitely speak their language!
- pclark 16y agodid you read your designer spec? it simply says "inspirational, loves photoshop and already using CS5" as a designer thats 0% content
- zakkap 16y agoI know it's a little scanty. Would you like to give me suggestions? But please stay away from negative comments. I wrote the spec, how can I not have read it?
- stretchwithme 16y agoFor a while now, I’ve been thinking about collective living arrangements specifically geared toward communities like hackers. I'm a member of the Hacker Dojo in Mountain View and its just awesome to hang out with creative people with whom I have a lot in common. Technology and creative thinking can both increase shared housing's quality and affordability, even in expensive cities. One thing that could be done with a large space is repurpose most of it for business tenants during the day. And for tenants themselves who might like to have space to work during the day very close to where they live. This might be accomplished using moving walls that enable you to compress bedrooms like Gary Chang does in his apartment: http://unclutterer.com/2010/04/26/video-incredibly-efficient-efficiency/ http://unclutterer.com/2010/04/26/video-incredibly-efficient... There would also locked storage in kitchen and bathroom and systems and personnel to encourage and maintain cleanliness. The idea is to reduce the costs of things when you aren’t using them, but still maintain privacy and security. Tenants could also share many things they don’t use often, like tools, thus reducing the amount of storage space each person needs. There would be a system that rents the space out during the day and you would pay a fixed price that covers your compressed room 24/7 and uncompressed for, say, 8pm – 8am weekdays or whatever suits you. Then the remaining space would be leased, with some auctioned off real time so that you can always stay home when you’re sick. And you'd pay less when you're on vacation. Overall, the purpose is to give young, single people the opportunity to live in a clean, secure, supportive situation at a great price even in a high cost area.
- jey 16y agoIt looks like while this says "roommate" it really means "RoR project-mate"? Sounds like the implicit expectation is that you'll end up working on RoR projects with the poster of the ad? I might as well mention that I want to move in with some free spirited artsy sciencey hackery types. (Currently living in a 1BR in Berkeley.)
- zakkap 16y agoDon't get me wrong: First and foremost, it's about making like-minded friends and reliable roommates. Ideally, the goal is the create a valuable development team in the process - and then take on fun and creative projects through opportunities like ycombinator and kickstarter. That being said, I am a Ruby developer. I do think that anyone I pair-program with should be familiar with Ruby. However, I am not tied to the constraint that I have a roommate that is a Ruby developer.
- teaspoon 16y agoThe Ruby requirement makes plenty of sense to me. But the Textmate/Heroku/rspec criteria make for a pretty tight Venn diagram, especially since you should be looking for someone who doesn't think exactly like you do. And do you really care if your roommate uses a different text editor than you do?
- zakkap 16y agoYou're right. It's a little tight. I've updated the website to say Textmate is preferred rather than required. The "heroku ftw!" remark is just a deployment option that I added in there to express my feelings towards the company. Technically it doesn't matter what platform we work on. I just happen to find them to be a rather unique and creative service that suits my needs. As far as RSpec - it's a matter of personal preference, but again... technically it doesn't matter. Anyone who doesn't meet the requirements EXACTLY should not feel unwelcome in sending me an email :)
- jhuckestein 16y agoLearning a new technology isn't really that big of a deal anyway. What if somebody introduces you to a technology that is better suited to solve a problem?
- hexley 16y agoOooh Zak is cute ;)
- csytan 16y agoLooks like you're a pretty decent designer too :)
- zakkap 16y agoThanks! Initially, before I was a programmer I use to be a designer. Once I started coding - I was hooked. I haven't really done any design work since I started being a developer, but I sure have had a few people ask :)
- ugh 16y ago“Already using CS5”? Ok, he doesn’t understand designers (yet :)
- zakkap 16y agoEnlighten me :)
- ugh 16y agoIt’s not really necessary to have the newest and greatest CS. Many designers I know skip a version or two and they generally tread carefully (i.e. take their time) when transitioning. Don’t judge designers by the version of the CS they are using :)
- zakkap 16y agoAgreed. I've removed it from the requirements. Thanks for the good suggestions! Please keep more coming.
- pclark 16y agoAlso no designer in their right mind uses a first release for production software.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- meese_ 16y agoe.g.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7qUKv7XVx4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7qUKv7XVx4, http://www.bobstaake.com/staakenyer.html http://www.bobstaake.com/staakenyer.html ("It's the artist, not the tools.")
- Maro 16y agoDon't limit your perspective. It'd be a better idea to move in with a physics major and a poet than with 2 copies of yourself.
- zakkap 16y agoI am not looking for "2 copies" of myself... There are a lot of people on this thread who think what I'm doing is a good idea. Please explain why that moving in with a physics major and a poet is a better idea than what I have proposed?
- random42 16y agoBecause you can talk/discuss something other than computer science / software development to them, hence you would not be limit your learnings in one direction. I, for one, would not like to bring what I do for living to my home. If I need to discuss my CS ideas, I can find likeminded people at other places, (say where I work/study), but living with "like minded" people 24 X 7, is not something I'd like to do. (Unless I am starting a startup or something)
- zakkap 16y agoI still have a life and other friends that I talk to about stuff other than CS and software development to... I also have an intense passion for learning and can never see myself as "limiting" myself in one direction. And, yes... The idea is to start a start-up. Hence why I am posting this on YCombinator. And mentioned Kickstarter.com in my link.
- Maro 16y agoIMO: 1. You should not live with your co-founder(s). It's important that you can take breaks from the startup/each other by going home. 2. You should be friends with your co-founder(s), but not "best friends". A startup is a bussiness relationship which is incompatible with "best friendship". This is my experience based on doing my own startup and watching others.
- pclark 16y agoI think this is a clever idea. I know of a few people that have pondered getting housemates that have a specific skill set in addition to a good vibe. I think you've missed the single most important requirement for a "kickass roomate" - has got non-work stuff finished and launched. I would also advise you to scrap all the development/design criteria of tools, and focus on attitudes and passions. Like look for a hacker developer, and a designer that is obsessed with user experience. Any man and his dog can use a collection of tools but that makes them neither a developer nor kickass. You might also want to put a link to a web product you've finished (you state "i develop web applications not only for work, but for fun. it takes up most of my time.") -- you have launched stuff right? :) Good luck man.
- AndyKelley 16y agoI've got a hacker roommate, and I must say it is awesome
- truebosko 16y agoCool idea. Personally, I would make note of somewhere in that ad of how clean you are. Hacking away all night with some buds is cool and all, but not when your sink is full of dishes and your floors haven't been wiped in weeks ;)
- Kilimanjaro 16y agoTwo. Thumbs. Up. Good idea. Great execution.
- mjw 16y agoHm... might work ok if the hacking on projects together aspect of it was relatively low-pressure/low-commitment stuff, pitch in if you have time and find it interesting but don't guarantee anything. But otherwise mixing two big-ish commitments (living together stuff, work stuff) could lead to some unpleasant friction if things don't go well. Sometimes you do want a bit of separation between 'work time' and 'home time', not to have to feel accountable to work people about the way you spend your home time and vice versa. I did live with the freelance designer from my work for a bit though. It worked ok because work is in the office, so pretty clear separation of work time and home time. But not really the same situation as you describe.
- zakkap 16y agoI think unpleasant friction can occur whether or not your living and working together. Anyway - enough speculation. I'll let you know how it goes :)
- mjw 16y agoHeh. Yep true, although stuff like this can make it more or less likely! In the end it'll depend entirely on the people I guess. Let us know how it turns out :)
- iskander 16y ago>bdd binary decision diagrams? Who wants to live with a static analysis researcher? They're not exactly the life of the CS party...
- zakkap 16y agono not binary decision diagrams... behavior driven development. i am a huge fan of the agile manifesto.
- graugrau 16y agoSounds like you might like living in one of the Hacker Houses? http://hackerhouse.bluwiki.com http://hackerhouse.bluwiki.com
- zakkap 16y agoThat's exactly what I need! Thank you so much, am looking into it.
- harshpotatoes 16y agoMy brain tells me you shouldn't start your first date by asking the person to move in with you. I have a feeling you've already heard this, and you will only accept this knowledge after your experiment. Ahh, how wonderful it is to be a skeptic.