Week Eight - So it begins

So we started actual work on the design and set-up of our final project this week. A little bit of a slow start, but I think we have the general idea of what we need to make, now we just need to figure out how to build them using Meteor and React.

Trying to understand them is somehow taking longer than expected though. I had expected to be able to pick them up faster, given that I have already had experience in one framework (AngularJS). Perhaps it is the fact that both Meteor and React affect the front end, and React in particular seems to eliminate normal HTML files almost entirely - which makes things feel really unfamiliar.

The talks this week were a little different.

For Lawrence Putra's talk (Paypal + suggestions for project monetisation), I felt that while there was value in hearing about Paypal's products and getting feedback, there were very few "aha" or inspirational moments, as compared to the other talks. That said, I felt that the example he gave of SparkAsia was particularly interesting though; allowing free printing of photos but placing advertisements on the back.

For Hugh Anderson's talk, it was somehow really enjoyable even though I was supposed to have learnt these things before. His fun demeanor makes me really wish he taught CS2107 last semester (someone else took it last sem). For the content he covered, I think it's really good to know how passwords are stored -- and that hashes can be guessed and broken quite easily using rainbow tables.

Week Seven - A Breather

Our final project group took a sort of break for this week, to focus on mid-terms. Quite thankful for it; I had time to catch up to the two modules I had neglected for pretty much the whole semester (I literally caught up to the lectures half a day before their midterm papers).

The talk this week was by GrabTaxi, Arul the VP of engineering, and Hooi Ling, one of the co-founders. Both were interesting and insightful talks. From Arul we learnt about the problems they faced when scaling, while Hooi Ling talked about her startup experience, how they started and grew.

One particularly interesting thing Arul mentioned was their mentality that each component or micro service had to be small enough to be written or re-written within two to four weeks. I think this gives a good gauge of what to expect in startups - or at least what it takes to succeed in them. Two weeks sounds a little like CS3216...only that they don't have 4-5 other modules at the same time.

Hooi Ling's talk was enlightening in a few ways: their focus on testing and iteration, as well as their relentless approach/commitment to their idea were very inspirational. My key takeaway was actually her opener though: "pick something you care about". Although it did seem obvious, it somehow hit me like some ray of enlightenment -- your life will revolve around your startup. It will become a part of your identity, a big part of your life - or at least several years. I have had a few friends suggest startup ideas to me, and although I was willing to help, this made me think twice. Committing to any one project could mean dedicating a big part of my life to it. They might suggest it as a "side project", less-time-commitment kind of thing, but if so, can it really succeed?