I don't mean to imply anything about the poster of this article in particular, but I seem to recall a saying something like...<p>When your uncle the mechanic starts giving stock tips, you know a bubble is brewing.<p>I think we're already in the middle of a web/mobile/social app bubble.
from his info page:
"SF 7/19 - 8/3
Charlotte, NC - 8/3 - 8/7
Knoxville, TN - 8/8 - 8/9
Longboat Key, FL - 8/10 - ????"<p>On your about page, you mention that you're possibly touring? Just curious, have you factored in how much stress you might have going to another town every week? Will you have some friends/coding buddies to talk to during your trip?<p>I'm really not trying to be condescending, it's just that I recently tried spending a week vacation working on a personal project in a remote place, and I ended up spending more time finding the right coffee shop to work in, understanding the transit system, etc. than I did actually working. In any case, definately wish you the best of luck.
I learned today that I may be losing my H1B soon. I can stay in the US as I'm married to another H1B holder, but I will not be able to work.<p>Since I dislike being idle, my first thought is to pack up and move back to my home country to look for a job. But this article represents an interesting path that I may follow myself.<p>Thanks for inspiring me to view lack of work permit as an opportunity and not a major life crisis.
You might want to post a short summary here, as it's an interesting story.<p>What type of job did you give up? I'm definitely interested in your story and following your blog.
I'm in pretty much the same situation as you, fast-forwarded a few weeks. However, I decided to take the plunge into learning iPhone development. Once you start playing with it, you'll realize why the iPhone is such a compelling platform and such a hit in the mobile apps space. Apple made it really hard for anyone to build a crappy experience.<p>Tangentially, I'm not really enjoying the learning experience since going through the book (the grapefruit book) is pretty much the same as doing a bunch of tutorials. I still don't feel like I understand the overall architecture of an iPhone app and how the various pieces connect. Anyone have good book recommendations?
Nice post but.. please, please, please make your links stand out some way. There are lots of useful links in there but they're exactly the same color and style as the body text!
Good luck. Maybe give some info on why you decided to learn certain technologies over other ones. Would be interesting to see what a n00b with no perceived bias chooses.
Hey Emile, did you do the E-ship program at UNC by chance? I think I remember you..<p>Anyway, I'm following the same path (teaching myself to program to work on my own projects). It's been fun (some days I feel like I can do anything with a computer) and challenging (other days I want to rip my hair out and hide in despair). I've been doing it for about a year and a half now.<p>I think the biggest challenge with non-programmers learning how to program is that it takes an exceptionally long time to get even the most basic functionality running. So work on the most basic thing, and even if it looks ugly in the beginning, just keep iterating on it. I started with Ruby and Rails, but you can't go wrong with Python and Django in the beginning.<p>If you want to see what lots of time and a little bit of programming on your own can give you, check out my little app www.getsetapp.com.<p>Good luck man, and let me know the next time you're in NC.
This is an interesting schedule. I like how you added the social component. This days you can't do anything without the social component. :)<p>"5:30 AM - Wakeup<p>5:30 AM - 7:30AM - Read blogs, articles, mail, write blog post<p>7:30 AM - 12 PM - Code without distractions (turn on SelfControl)<p>12 PM - 1:30 PM - Run, workout, make some quick food<p>1:30 PM - 6PM - Ignore desire for a nap, Code & Coffee
6PM - Get out of the house and meet people!"<p>Do you really plan to uphold it every day? Or is it more like a flexible guide? This times look pretty tight. Did you plan it concerning your personal preferences (early wakeup, how much sleep?), or more on the general work day "normal people" expected schedule. And do you really need to write a blog post every day? Don't you think all this will be a distraction?
Interesting "project". I think you should fill out the "why" and perhaps "how" pages with more information. It was hard for me to really understand what you are doing and why you decided to do this radical thing.