Stop Bluffing About Code...Do This Instead
"I don't know" is better than knowing
Many non-technical founders think that sounding competent in programming terms is as easy as naming a few modern frameworks and knowing roughly where they slot into the equation.
Example from a real conversation:
“I want to build a bot that automatically comments on relevant posts on Social Media”
“Should just be some Python and TypeScript”
That sounds ok. But Python has many uses. Is it a Python script or a full web application framework like Django?
TypeScript alone is not a Frontend. That’s just statically typed JavaScript.
Programmers’ ears will prick up when they hear familiar terms and spot subtle mistakes.
It’s ok not to know things. The strongest statement here is “I don’t know”.
The point isn’t to prove anything. It’s that communicating like this demonstrates either:
You’re trying to minimize the complexity of something you have no idea how to do.
You’re trying to sound smart.
It also marries a problem to an implementation that might not make sense.
Neither are good qualities in a co-founder or boss.
Focus on the problem to be solved and forget about the implementation details.
Better than bluffing.