Just how important is coding anyway? As a startup founder, do you need to know how to code? Here’s what 11 DCTech founders said when I asked them:
How did you learn how to code?
When I was in 5th grade my cousin taught me HTML, but I started to learn how to actually code in high school.
- Mayank Jain, Pilot
I’ve been learning how to code over the past few years. It’s not my trade, or my main focus with EasyPaint, but I do believe even non-technical co-founders should know enough to be respected by developers in conversation. If that means sitting down with your co-founder and watching over his shoulder, as I did, for hours and hours, then by all means you should do it. I’ve also done a number of online coding classes, lessons, and learning tracks. Many are free or very cheap, but to learn that way requires discipline. It’s a good test for whether you have the self discipline to be successful in a startup.
- Marty Cornish, EasyPaint
I didn’t. I hired really smart individuals that can code in their sleep. I do try to further my knowledge so that I can have a better sense of what we need, how it needs to be built and how it ultimately needs to be functioned. I’m probably the exception rather than the norm for tech startups.
- Emily York, Sade Wellness
I currently do not do my own coding. However, I have taught myself the basics about coding.
- LaToria Brent, NextBrides
I quit my job, left my wife (behind, not for good 
) and moved to Colorado to attended a 1 year accelerated graduate program. BDW (previously Boulder Digital Works) out of the University of Colorado at Boulder was founded to take creative talent from the advertising industry and turn them in to lean, mean, spec-reading machines.
- Erik Deyer, GoodShuffle
When I was around 13 years old (15 years ago), my father gave me one of those “HTML for Beginners” books. I read it, then viewed websites’ source code to teach myself how everything was coded on the internet. I began “hacking” bulletin board software such as vBulletin and Ikonboard. Hacking in the sense of adding new functionality such as smiley faces in posts by editing the code. I got so much into it, I create http://www.ibhackers.com (ikonboard hackers), where it was a community of message board coders who all altered the codebase to make it better. Ultimately the property was acquired by ikonboard itself.
- Michael Rihani, Koofers
I was a Computer Science major in college (University of Texas at Austin) and have been a full stack developer (front-end to DB) since graduating in 2005.
- Andrew Garcia, GoodShuffle
I started learning to code when I was in the fourth grade. I saw my father programming for his job as an engineer and thought working on missiles like he was or being able to create something like my favorite video games would be awesome. I saved up $15 and bought a Learn to Program Basic disc at a book sale and taught myself from there. It’s been an ongoing journey from there to where I am now coding in node.js for Bloompop.
- Matt Scandalis, Bloompop
I learned how to code in college, in a computer science class. It seems like everyone has computers in their schools from elementary on up. I was always just one grade ahead of whoever was getting the gift of technology in the classrooms. Now, when I really need something done quickly, I ask my teenage son.
- Stephanie Zimmerman, Lend A Box
I first learned to code from online classes (primarily this online Rails Tutorial), from joining a weekly group with others learning at the same time, by hacking and learning from my own mistakes and searching for solutions online.
- Dave Aidekman, The Trip Tribe
I initially learned how to code only HTML and CSS when I was around 13 using a copy of the Lynda.com HTML book that I found laying around the house. I had no idea what it was at the time.
I didn’t really learn much beyond HTML and CSS until I started experimenting with C++ using the Quake 3 arena game engine and starting a mod team to build a video game off of the existing code. Here’s what we had going on back in 2000: http://web.archive.org/web/20000816052147/http://www.modsquad.net/.
Recently, I’ve been using teamtreehouse.com and I can honestly say it’s done more for me than CodeAcademy, Rails For Zombies or any of the other learning material online. I’d refer anyone that’s interested in learning to code to Treehouse.
- Sajad Ghanizada, Evenstir
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