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I’m not sure I would call it quitting tech, but after studying computer science at university and dabbling in some start-ups that went nowhere, I was a property developer for a while. Learnt an incredible amount from it, not least how punishing physical labour can be (demoliton, being the first and probably least-skilled job on a project, made up most of the hands-on work I did — the rest was left to professionals). I’m not a founder (yet), but now working at an early stage startup, I’m finding so much that carries over to the business of tech. Assessing the market potential of properties available for auction, the poker game of the auction itself, making profit projections on the back of extremely shaky estimates of the time and resources needed to complete a project, the difficulty of scheduling myriad interdependent tasks, to be carried out by a small army of subcontractors. On that last point, an especially memorable lesson was learned after uncovering hidden structural instabilities that needed immediate repair (huge cracks in the back wall of a 100 year old row house, caused by an undersized window lintel, covered by a suspiciously low false ceiling — I’m sure there’s a lesson in there about hiding mistakes). Dealing with the cascade of jobs that had to be rebooked was extremely instructive in the need for slack in a schedule. Clear specification is another thing I now value highly. I taught myself to use architectural CAD software in frustration at a number costly mistakes, which traced back to misinterpretation of imprecise verbal instructions or freehand sketches. Especially when people are proud of their abilities, they’re inclined to read between the lines of the directions they’re given, which won’t necessarily line up with your vision — especially if you haven’t actually communicated that vision. I could go on, but in short: absolutely no regrets. And something I’ll almost certainly do again, when I hopefully have more capital to work with, and can hire a project manager to execute my vision! |