frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

How to get up to speed on software development from the top down

1•dave2299•1y ago
Hi everyone, I am a non-technical founder. I’ve bootstrapped a tech-enabled services company over the past year that’s growing, profitable, and close to 15K a month in revenue. I, by nature, prefer to be involved in the weeds of what’s happening in each domain of my business at first, even if that results in slower business growth. I built my company with a white label portal software (Copilot.app), Airtable, Squarespace, AppSheet,and some ChatGPT scripts.

Now, I need to start building out custom tools. I want to take a deep dive into software development, starting with front and back end web development from the top down, rather than starting from the bottom up as a coder.

If I keep growing eventually I will end up bringing on technical employees, but I want to understand the lay of the land before I start down that road, and I found that I’m able to do a lot once I understand the domain using low code and no code tools. So for example, things like Retool, etc. will accomplish most of the next phase of building I need. But I want to have a reading list of 10 or 20 books or blogs or courses or podcast, etc.. That will help me start getting the way of the land on how to architect software.

I know basic python, basics of the building blocks of programming at the intro level. I just read Designing Data-Intensive Applications (2nd ed on O’Reilly). Does someone have a list of 10 modern books that would help me understand big picture topics like this?

Comments

sherdil2022•1y ago
I offer personal / 1:1 training, mentoring and technical consultancy for founders and co-founders.

Please feel free to reach out to me. My throwaway email is in my profile, and I will respond.

Xbox Game Pass now limits the amount of hours each month

1•nodesocket•1m ago•0 comments

1Password Replied to My Disappointment

https://nicolalosito.it/2026/09/03/1password-replied-to-my-disappointment/
1•backlit4034•1m ago•0 comments

The Heavy Reality of Having a "Favorite Person" When You Live with BPD

https://medium.com/freedomofthought/the-heavy-reality-of-having-a-favorite-person-when-you-live-w...
1•raynchad•2m ago•0 comments

Paul Graham on Startups, Ambition, and Great Founders [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bxp78i96S8
2•jonbaer•3m ago•0 comments

Afterword – every word has a next word

https://afterword.exe.xyz
1•indigodaddy•4m ago•0 comments

Overview of Code Virtualization

https://tmpout.sh/5/12.html
1•vismit2000•11m ago•0 comments

Elon Musk Unmasked in Alex Gibney Documentary

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/elon-musk-alex-gibney-documentary-1236686...
6•archagon•17m ago•0 comments

Therapeutic Food (Child Malnutrition)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapeutic_food
1•RetroTechie•19m ago•0 comments

Interactive Tree of Life

https://ptree.org/
4•Lucent•22m ago•1 comments

The Most Famous "Odyssey" Translation Is Inaccurate

https://substack.magazinenongrata.com/p/the-most-popular-odyssey-translation
1•georgex7•25m ago•0 comments

Green Card wait for most Indian immigrants is now 179 years

https://nypost.com/2026/09/03/us-news/green-card-wait-for-most-indian-immigrants-is-now-179-years...
4•pseudolus•25m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: Code review of AI output, review what?

3•s3arch•26m ago•1 comments

2FAS – Authenticator and Password Manager

https://2fas.com/
2•thunderbong•28m ago•0 comments

Jensen Huang Became AI'S Taylor Swift

https://www.economist.com/interactive/1843/2026/09/03/how-jensen-huang-became-ais-taylor-swift
1•andsoitis•28m ago•0 comments

NVIDIA is driving the AI boom. Good

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2026/09/03/nvidia-is-driving-the-ai-boom-good
3•andsoitis•29m ago•0 comments

Adobe names insider Chakravarthy CEO, Narayen transitions to executive chair

https://www.reuters.com/business/adobe-names-anil-chakravarthy-ceo-2026-09-03/
1•pfrrp•32m ago•0 comments

Tesla is asking people if they want to buy and run Cybercab fleets

https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/03/tesla-is-asking-people-if-they-want-to-buy-and-run-cybercab-fle...
2•evo_9•33m ago•0 comments

Botpool Create – Build websites and apps by chatting with AI

https://www.botpool.ai/create
1•leuften•43m ago•1 comments

SimpleUI for KOReader

https://github.com/doctorhetfield-cmd/simpleui.koplugin
1•juiceland•49m ago•0 comments

Release 13.2.1 · Grafana/Grafana

https://github.com/grafana/grafana/releases/tag/v13.2.1
1•kyisaiah47•52m ago•0 comments

PayPal plans to lay off workers at its South Bay headquarters

https://www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article/paypal-san-jose-layoffs-tech-jobs-22416617.php
3•littlexsparkee•56m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: What is the ideal email domain setup?

2•bix6•58m ago•1 comments

Your website analytics deserves Love

https://anacraft.dev/#mcp
1•mehfuzh•1h ago•1 comments

Not Cool

https://placesjournal.org/article/not-cool-paris-heatwave-climate-sustainability/
2•littlexsparkee•1h ago•0 comments

Pangram Has Emerged as the Gold Standard of AI Detection. Should You Trust It?

https://www.wired.com/story/pangram-has-emerged-as-the-gold-standard-of-ai-detection/
3•bko•1h ago•1 comments

Mammut vs. Arc'terx – Brand Comparisons

https://www.lydiascapes.com/mammut-vs-arcteryx-brand-comparison/
1•Cider9986•1h ago•0 comments

Simple Is Not Small

https://jyn.dev/simple-is-not-the-same-as-small/
1•zdw•1h ago•0 comments

Navigating Code Reviews as a Code Author [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zygtgvHp_MM
1•BiraIgnacio•1h ago•0 comments

Stop obsessing about the goddamn robot

https://despairlabs.com/blog/posts/2026-09-03-stop-obsessing-about-the-robot/
3•zdw•1h ago•0 comments

Tell HN: The Thoughts and Woes of a Full-Time Founder Part 1

3•lcampbellsoup•1h ago•0 comments