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Joseph Mania
Joseph Mania

Posted on • Originally published at techmaniac649449135.wordpress.com

Why Many Software Engineers/Developers Don’t Have Their Own Startup

I used to think of this, then weeks, months, years in coding gave me a wide view of the business. Yes, you know how to develop beautiful mobile apps, websites, and APIs. Many software developers can do a lot, but why do only a few people end up with their own companies?
It’s never a walk in the park coming up with a company. Here are some of the factors that hinder developers from owning startups:

Capital

Of course, one can learn programming in two years and be able to come up with something new. It’s possible. We have self-taught programmers who get into the industry 8 months after boot camps. But as a programmer, there is no money to fund the idea you have. Putting everything together to build and fund your own application is hard. As you grow in the world of tech, your mind expands to entrepreneurship. Remember, even if your application works on a local computer, you need money for:

Purchase host and domain name.
Maybe it is an eCommerce platform where funds are required to purchase or collaborate with vendors.
Services like AWS and various databases are required.
Maintenance costs can also be high because as business improves, you need to add features by yourself.

Working alone with no group

I am a victim when it comes to making a personal projects. I like being in my own world. English men says, “You can do a lot by yourself, but if you need to go far, walk with friends. We have many full-stack developers with ambitions to start their own companies. But working alone won’t help you. Let’s say you want to offer Software as a Service. Then, have a client who requires a product that you need to combine various technologies to implement. It’s hard to do it. A team of colleagues will help you. Develop models and set them up as open-source projects.

Managing your own code

Are you a technical developer? Everyone faces the problem of reading his/her own code. I myself hate reading what I have written. But if you have a company, let’s say a social media platform, you have to do everything by yourself. In the first few days, if it doesn’t hit the market, you have to improve everything. Write code for new features, debug, and test. That’s too much for a single developer.

Time-wasting

Let’s assume you have graduated, and you want to build something out of your idea. A good site takes time. While working on a solo project, then you need more than 6 months. Remember, if you are very ambitious about it, then you will do it full time. That’s a lot of time. What if the startup doesn’t work well in the market? You will have wasted one full year. But just know, you have something to show on your GitHub, it will give you much experience.

The fear of failure

I fall into this category. I wrote code for another fellow whom we agreed am going to get some shares in his company. After wasting my whole year, I came to realize the man had ideas, but he was non-technical. His best moment was to copy the designs from linked and other e-commerce platforms and send them to me early the next day. All the projects were in vain, he could not afford the requirements to launch.
That’s what has indulged all the fear in starting startups. But over time if I get funds, I believe I will give it a shot. The condition affects almost every software engineer/developer.

Top comments (3)

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_udemezue profile image
udemezue John

Talent is not everything, there is a business side of coding , but not every web developer is built to see understand it

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techmaniacc profile image
Joseph Mania

Sure, many people are technically talented, but when it comes o business and entrepreneurship, got zero knowledge. BUt i guess a technical person should be business minded to achieve alot

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_udemezue profile image
udemezue John

Sorry, not everyone would be business minded, most people just want to earn a living, they don't care about solving problems and waiting for long term gratification, we are not all the same.

Look at the huge amount of web developers in the last few years yet no one has dared challenge the big techs.