Kudos to Some Inspiring Entrepreneur Programmers

So I took the time to blog again while waiting for a video presentation upload on an app feature for a client to be done.

First thing that came to my mind recently due to my not-so-normal work schedule (sometimes I work very late at night - 9 P.M to 4 AM GMT +8 or 9 AM to 4 P.M EST) is “what to do” after working on some client projects. I could be teaming up with a senior consultant (with over 30 years experience) in the field of Accounting, Estate and Taxation and sink my teeth into several business books and programming books or I could continue what I have already started when I was seventeen. It’s very difficult to decide what to do because sometimes what you want isn’t necessarily what is right for you. If you can have a stable job and start your “dot com” business then that’s great but the chance of getting burnt out long before you accomplish anything is high. The phrase “part time job” sounds like a better option for me. Or going full time freelance on various small projects is a good way to go too.

During my high school years, we’re often told it’s those people who you look up to that would guide you in your journey.

Inspiring Versus Successful

In my honest opinion, you can be successful but not inspiring. A few people on the Forbes list are not inspiring at all. They were born affluent and confident. I am not inspired by people who amass wealth and do nothing else significant to society.

Thinking off the field of technology, I think Shakira, the musician is “inspiring.” The musical prodigy founded Pies Descalzos Foundation in 1997. Bono of U2 is another inspiring artist as he’s notable for his efforts to help Africa. And of course, who wouldn’t know about Angelina Jolie.

Internet Superstars

Inspiring Netpreneurs

Matthew Mullenweg

Matt’s a jazz artist, a web developer and entrepreneur living in San Francisco. He is CEO of Automattic although according to the site he’s “Chief BBQ Taste Tester”. I have been following his blog and developments about his projects- Wordpress and Wordpress MU over the years.

I used his state-of-the-art publishing platform in 2003 for Kuwaderno Youth Zine, an effort to gather young people interested in the arts. Kudos to him for his platform. I’m sure nearly every blogger in the world is using Wordpress more than any other platform.

I’ve tried so many open-source platforms in the past and I could say Wordpress has more heart for users and developers.

David Heinemeier Hansson

Phew.. What a name. Could hardly spell that. Now I know why they refer to him as “DHH” and his book, Agile Web Development With Rails as the “DHH book.” DHH was original core rails developer. I use his framework now on a couple of projects. Kudos to him and several developers who may not be superstars but have significant contribution in Rails community.

In most of his talks, David encourages developers to work for themselves. “Think about not being told what to do,” he says. He also promotes the idea of setting a price for a product, the traditional business model which seemed to have been forgotten due to the advertising and the “get 1 million people to visit to make that click valid” kind of idea to get rich through the Internet.

Sergey Brin and Larry Page, a.k.a, “The Google Founders”

I don’t know life without google. Period. As a google-dependent developer, I’d have to say these two guys are real geniuses. The google story is inspiring. They started out very small. Hardly had any investors and when they did found an one, the investor wrote a check to “Google,” which was then a non-existent company. I believe these two guys are more than just computer scientists who got lucky. Impressive how they are now investing into the field genetics for instance. They know that business has to branch out of technology or confines of the web.

Not Inspiring But Worth The Note

Mark Zuckerberg

This guy shouldn’t be on my list of people to thank as I haven’t made money out of using Facebook. My wild guess is people could get out of their “Facebook walls” someday. But while I belong to those people who feel so stuck to using Facebook, I couldn’t conclude anything or make social networking predictions.

The list should be longer but these are the superstars I could think of that influence many developers to go for business even in this time of recession. I know a lot who are building their own “dot-com’s” while working as consultants or freelance developers. I am following some of them on Twitter. Hoping these people would succeed and try to surpass the low-level definition of success.