Day 1 – getting set up

Learning to code, I downloaded Sublime text, created a GitHub account, created an NPM account, created a CodeAcademy account, and purchased HTML & CSS, JavaScript and JQuery. I already had a Khanacademy account, and I had read through some stuff on HTML/CSS before starting this challenge.

I asked 2 people to be my mentors and tutors in this process (Nathan and Vamsi).

I’m starting with GitHub

My thought here is that I want to get really good at using other people’s code, building on their achievements, and collaborating creatively.

I went through the tutorial for GitHub, and the first and second lesson on GitHub through CodeAcademy.

I then started reading the GitHub Documentation guide. Completed GitHub Flow. Completed GitHub Hello World. Completed Getting your project on GitHub.

Cost: $74 (books) – I really overpaid, but that’s the cost of rushing…

Time: 2.5 hrs

Study guide

Online Resources for learning to code
Khanacademy
codeacademy
Get a Tutors
Best practices and processes
Keep tidy guiding notes
How to write documentation
Project management
Material Design
HTML
Books
Cheat sheet
Style Guide
Examples/ exercise practices
CSS
Books
Cheat sheet
Style Guide
Examples/ exercise practices
GitHub
Books
Cheat sheet
Style Guide
Examples/ exercise practices
JavaScript
Book
Cheat sheet
Style Guide
Libraries
Examples/ exercise practices
Front end –
Maps –
charts.js
Leaflet JS
Mapbox
Carto
Ruby on Rails
Book
Cheat sheet
Style Guide
Examples/ exercise practices
HubSpot
Book
Cheat sheet
Style Guide
Examples/ exercise practices
Artificial Intelligence
Book
Cheat sheet
Style Guide
Examples/ exercise practices

CEO: Apostle of hope

More so than any other position, it befits the CEO to instill hope in those he encounters; Hope in the firm and its ability to execute – particularly in early-stage companies – and hope in the individual flourishing of every employee. Hope is a rare virtue, and often enough we don’t recognize when it is gone.
If you are trying to be the best imaginable CEO, odds are you need to cultivate hope. Here are the four major elements to consider:
  1. Hope is always “for something good”, and so the CEO is constantly in the position of reminding people of the good things to come, whether that is vendors, investors, employees or customers, you need to constantly emphasize the good around you.
  2. Hope is always for something in the future. That’s why innovators and explorers, and the best CEOs are always living in the future, one step ahead of the curve, living in the next quarter or year. A good CEO sees the potential and helps to realize it as well. You need to be prophetic.
  3. Hope is only towards something arduous and difficult. It typically does not have much to do with the trivial things that we accomplish every day.
  4. Even though it is difficult, it must be possible.This is where the CEO has the difficult task of creating “reach” goals, stretching enough to motivate his employees to do something difficult, but also making sure that it is attainable. This is also where creating certainty can be hugely valuable to a firm – something we’ll talk about a little bit later.
When you think about creating a culture of hope in your organization, there are many places where it can apply. You might want to think about framing your conversations about vision and mission in the context of hope. General goal setting almost always requires it to take your team from the mindset of “this is impossible” to “if we each do our part and we work at it really hard, we can get there together”.
Want to really set yourself apart from other CEOs? Apply the message of hope to compensation discussions. Let your employees know that they are valued because they are going to help you accomplish something difficult in the future. This is absolutely essential for the First Time CEO in a start-up environment where you might not have enough cash on hand to meet everyone’s expectations. At the same time, you’re asking for more, odds are you’ll need to give more. Because hope is such a powerful driver, see if you can give your team little tastes of success along the way. Try to have performance-based compensation where possible, whether that is a commission structure for sales, a goals-based bonus for marketing, or vesting for your upper management, you want to directly link current efforts with your lofty hopes and give everyone on the team a taste of what’s to come.