Hello, Startup: A Programmer's Guide to Building Products, Technologies, and Teams

Hello there! I'm Yevgeniy (Jim) Brikman. I'm a programmer, writer, speaker, and traveler. You can find me on Twitter (@brikis98), LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/jbrikman), Blogger (http: //brikis98.blogspot.com), and my Homepage (ybrikman.com).I got my BS and Masters in Computer Science at Cornell Unitversity, started my career at several big companies (Cisco Systems, Thomson Financial), and then made the jump into the startup world (LinkedIn, TripAdvisor). Along the way, I got the chance to work on enterprise products, hiring tools, scalable infrastructure, company culture, engineering branding, travel apps, VoIP software, innovation programs, and much more.I wish I had a book like "Hello, Startup" back when I was in college. By the time I graduated, I had a BS, a Masters, a bunch of internship experiences--and absolutely no idea what I was doing. What technologies should I learn and use? Why should I spend time writing automated tests? How do I build a user interface that doesn't look terrible? How do I get people to use my product? How do I negotiate a job offer? Should I negotiate for more salary or more equity? What is equity, anyway? And most importantly, should I work at a large company or join a startup?I learned the answers to these questions, and many others, the hard way--through trial and error. I also learned that thousands of other developers before me went through the same inefficient trial and error process. It doesn't have to be this way. While there are a small number of lessons that you can only learn by making your own mistakes, my hope is that you can learn everything else by studying the successes, failures, and stories in "Hello, Startup."