frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

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

1•dave2299•6mo 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•6mo 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.

The Futile Quest for Artificial Intelligence (2006)

https://archive.skeptic.com/archive/reading_room/artificial-intelligence-gone-awry/
2•pbw•2m ago•0 comments

The Austrian heiress giving away her fortune

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-30/rich-heiress-giving-away-all-her-wealth/106077200
1•defrost•5m ago•0 comments

IPv4 Internet Map

https://map.bgp.tools/
1•basilikum•6m ago•0 comments

Tell HN: I'm posting this while in flight over Atlantic Ocean

2•novateg•8m ago•1 comments

'Deeply demoralizing': how Trump derailed coal country's clean-energy revival

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/29/trump-coal-country
1•tzs•8m ago•0 comments

Trump says he will pardon former Honduran president serving for drug-trafficking

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/28/politics/trump-honduran-president-juan-orlando-hernandez-pardon
1•clanky•11m ago•0 comments

Great device, wrong problem: Two months with the Ultrahuman Air

https://kix.dev/great-device-wrong-problem-two-months-with-the-ultrahuman-air/
1•kixpanganiban•12m ago•0 comments

Bought a Broken CNC Lathe They Don't Want Me to Fix [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuQZeiAugp4
1•vermontdevil•14m ago•0 comments

Continuous Thought Machines

https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.05522
2•Anon84•15m ago•0 comments

Intro to Raft [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXEYuDwm7e4
1•manveerc•22m ago•0 comments

Show HN: The Financial Planner Built on Scenario Modeling

http://finp4l.com
1•drisw•25m ago•0 comments

World Economic Forum: Top Emerging Technologies of 2025

https://www.weforum.org/publications/top-10-emerging-technologies-of-2025/digest/
4•manveerc•26m ago•1 comments

Survey: How Musicians Use AI

https://www.landr.com/ai
1•norrsson•29m ago•0 comments

You're on Ozempic? How Quaint

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/11/weight-loss-drugs-customized/685077/
1•JumpCrisscross•36m ago•1 comments

Parkrun is an unwitting British public-health success

https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/10/24/parkrun-is-an-unwitting-british-public-health-success
1•bookofjoe•37m ago•1 comments

Show HN: Async version for Rust std::sync and more

https://github.com/fast/mea
1•tison•1h ago•0 comments

Safepay: Jobs get done. Payments get released. No stress, no surprises

https://safepayhq.com/
2•Mahmudahmed•1h ago•0 comments

Verbal Knobs. We owe the answers we proxy

https://fnhipster.com/posts/verbal-knobs
1•fnhipster•1h ago•1 comments

Candy Desk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_Desk
4•65•1h ago•0 comments

104 elite skydivers set world record in physics-defying formation

https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/watch-104-elite-skydivers-set-world-record-in-physics-def...
1•ashishgupta2209•1h ago•0 comments

Show HN: Cryptopp-modern – maintained Crypto++ fork with BLAKE3, Argon2, CMake

https://github.com/cryptopp-modern/cryptopp-modern
1•CoraleDev•1h ago•0 comments

Built a Free, Unlimited Screen Recorder Because Everything Else Annoyed Me

https://www.indiehackers.com/post/built-a-free-unlimited-screen-recorder-because-everything-else-...
4•showesome•1h ago•1 comments

Microsoft CEO taps advisor to 'rethink' the company's business for the AI era

https://www.businessinsider.com/nadella-taps-adviser-rethink-new-economics-ai-memo-shows-2025-11
2•SilverElfin•1h ago•0 comments

Baikonur pad damaged in Soyuz launch to ISS

https://spacenews.com/baikonur-pad-damaged-in-soyuz-launch-to-iss/
4•Anon84•1h ago•0 comments

"Disagree and Let's See"

https://mollyg.substack.com/p/disagree-and-lets-see
1•benwerd•1h ago•0 comments

The Writing Is on the Wall for Handwriting Recognition

https://newsletter.dancohen.org/archive/the-writing-is-on-the-wall-for-handwriting-recognition/
2•myth_drannon•1h ago•0 comments

The Gist of Western Philosophy

https://youtu.be/7XcwlDnwai0
2•m-hodges•1h ago•0 comments

Tkr.life

https://tkr.life/
1•agendacreativa•1h ago•1 comments

Tell HN: Regrets. Think carefully about how you spend your time

92•anonymous_ibex•1h ago•17 comments

Explosive Skill Acquisition

https://bengoldhaber.substack.com/p/explosive-skill-acquisition
1•lindowe•1h ago•0 comments