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.

Flock CEO's Address Spread Online as Surveillance Backlash Explodes

https://www.gadgetreview.com/flock-ceos-address-spread-online-as-surveillance-backlash-explodes
1•randycupertino•11s ago•0 comments

Cheap code is changing how I debug

https://weidok.al/2026/08/20/cheap-code-is-changing-how.html
1•speckx•35s ago•0 comments

Squat Paradise

https://www.slowtravelberlin.com/squats-neo-nazis-friedrichshain-in-the-90s/
1•jruohonen•35s ago•0 comments

Show HN: Sesame - a local-first, open-source password manager

https://usesesame.app/
1•d0mkaaa•1m ago•0 comments

Bye, Bye GitHub

https://log.ozgur.works/bye-bye-github.html
2•iozguradem•3m ago•0 comments

Show HN: iOS app for learning any song on piano with AI music transcription

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anything-piano-learn-any-song/id6761146933
1•katielb•4m ago•0 comments

I built a news app that interrupts me 3 times a day, at most

https://thalmas.com/try
1•ittsel•5m ago•0 comments

Automated Researchers Can Reliably Mitigate Alignment Failures

https://alignment.anthropic.com/2026/automated-alignment-researchers/
1•isomorphic_duck•6m ago•0 comments

Electric rain can eat through metal

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/electric-rain-can-eat-through-metal/
2•bookofjoe•7m ago•1 comments

Show HN: ALST – Real-time Android screen translator using Gemini and ML Kit

https://github.com/navidseyedain/ALSTMobile
1•navidseyedain•8m ago•0 comments

Hy4 Preview

https://hy.tencent.ai/research/hy4-preview
2•muizelaar•9m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Use FOMO to 3x your sales

https://fomotoast.com
1•devarifhossain•9m ago•0 comments

I Always Forget About Music

https://alexcaza.com/personal/i-always-forget-about-music/
1•speckx•11m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Boop – tiny, self-hosted push notifications for your apps built in Go

https://github.com/chrisgreg/boop
1•bustylasercanon•12m ago•0 comments

The data center backlash is here – and Big Tech is spending big to combat it

https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2026/08/california-data-center-backlash-big-tech-lobbying/
2•cdrnsf•13m ago•0 comments

Solid state batteries have reached a make-or-break moment

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-quantumscape-and-factorial-energy-mass-produce-sol...
1•johnshades•13m ago•0 comments

The Analytical AI Handbook

https://handbook.sutro.sh
2•sethkim•13m ago•0 comments

Conceptions of the Heavens

https://inwaves.io/posts/conceptions-of-the-heavens/
2•inwavesaye•14m ago•0 comments

TypePHP: A native AOT compiler for PHP

https://github.com/swoole/typephp/blob/master/README.md
1•pachico•14m ago•0 comments

Degradability

https://fagnerbrack.com/degradability-91ce5a6e2367
2•fagnerbrack•14m ago•0 comments

Can Kafka Support Elastic Partitioning?

https://terroir.systems/can-kafka-support-elastic-partitioning/
1•raindev•15m ago•0 comments

ICE Plans to Spend Millions on Boston Dynamics Dog Robots

https://www.404media.co/ice-plans-to-spends-millions-on-boston-dynamics-dog-robots/
7•johnshades•19m ago•0 comments

The Vibe Code Cleanup Specialist [video]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_10OigKn0Pc
2•root-parent•20m ago•1 comments

Show HN: Hi agent – run `npx microfeed/CLI manage` to deploy CMS on Cloudflare

https://docs.microfeed.org/start-here/
1•wenbin•20m ago•0 comments

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Launches this Sunday

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/28/nx-s1-5905370/nasa-nancy-grace-roman-space-telescope-dark-energy-s...
3•topspin•21m ago•0 comments

Mental Health (For Humans)

https://kennethreitz.org/essays/2026-06-06-mental_health_for_humans
2•NaOH•22m ago•1 comments

Scientists discover a brain "brake" that can shut down chronic pain

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260826055442.htm
2•samso26•22m ago•0 comments

Karaqu

https://www.karaqu.com/
3•toilet•22m ago•0 comments

Bash on Balls (2010)

https://github.com/jneen/balls
1•zbentley•23m ago•0 comments

TurnBench – a turn-taking benchmark for spoken conversation

https://turnbench.sesame.com
6•freemanjiang•25m ago•1 comments