Hi HNers. I have been reading this forum since last two years to keep me update on tech world.

A little bit about me.

I have a PhD in biotech/pharma field and worked as a post doc for few years (45K/year). I have always enjoyed doing science but now I am slowly realizing that I am not cut out for the research or cubicle jobs. I would like to work on something which will involve interacting with real people in real world (directly or indirectly).I want to get out of bench/cubicle culture. Lately,I have developed tremendous interest ( do not know if I can call it a passion) towards web programming and web development as I feel I can come up with a MVP pretty quick to test a concept compared to bringing something in biotech or pharma field. I have moved to Bay area with a new research related job recently and i want to leverage it.

In my long term plan I am clear that I want to do the following things. 1. I wan to be an entrepreneur and I want to add value in people's life 2. I need to be financially independent as soon as possible. 3. Start my own company and work with awesome people around world.

Babysteps so far taken:-

To get in to webworld and entrepreneurship, I have started the following things-

1. I have bought few domains and have started launching few sites with static pages and test blogs ( To know the basics of web application).

2. Watching Stanford course on Web applications and Programming.

3. I have started learning HTML, CSS and Javascript. For web programming,I tried with python programming but quickly got frustrated with it. I just could not get my head wrap around it.So I have started MHartl's a Ruby on Rails tutorial and I like it.

4. Few days ago I came across with ROR bootcamp offered by Sheeref on HN and really wanted to join but being the sole bread earners with a family and kids (bread and health insurance?), I was too afraid to join .

So my few questions to fellow HNguys including PG (If I am lucky) who have been there and done that (and still doing),

1. What is the quickest but sturdiest path to get into programming to build a MVP?

2. Is there any place in Bay area where I can learn programming in evening?

3. If my long term goal is to be a web entrepreneur then how realistic it is to learn programming and then developing something and launching it?

4. Any experienced fellow on HN would like to help by becoming a mentor?

Any suggestions and inputs are highly appreciated. My email is on my profile.

I apologize for any typo or grammatical errors as English is not my first language.

Thanks to all.

biopharma_guy 的提交内容

Ask HN: From biotech industry to web technology: how and where should I start?

Ask HN: From biotech industry to web technology: how and where should I start?