Waking up as a student maker — Joshua Tabakhoff

I’m a 19-year-old guy with 10 years of programming experience and 5 years of project management. When I tell people about my experience and how I got here, they often look surprised. Sounds crazy, right?

You may relate to this — we all share a different path, and our uniqueness gathers us.

We say everybody’s unique, but to be truly unique you have to be different. Be, think, handle differently. How? Find yourself — don’t force it; it’ll come with your different actions and experiences. Are you thinking from someone else’s PoV? That’s the way to build your unique and global vision over a problem.

Back to my past: I grew up mainly in the countryside, and that means a gap between the latest news and current life. My mother taught us how to use computers because she knew it was going to be mainstream — nothing too complicated, just how it works. She always taught us the Internet is not the kindest place but never acted like it was the worst thing the world had invented. She taught us it was an awesome tool that could lead to dramatic events.

Onto the event I want to share. Back in school at 4th grade, other children knew I was playing with computers — they didn’t know what it was, plus I was starting to program, so they thought I was a black-hat hacker doing bad things online. Once, a so-called friend of mine told the school principal that I tried to hack their email address (remember this from October’s post?). This was the first time I understood I was different, and that people fear difference. Also the first time I understood people can be harsh.

Fast forward to the totally opposite event of my life, where you’ll see how the Internet is powerful: in 2011-2012, I joined a forum of game makers where I met Samuel — long-time friend now. He was making a game I found awesome and we ended up chatting 1:1. We discovered we were the same age. Since then, we played together, learned together, built things together. We’ve grown together by sharing our different experiences.

Now what?

I want to show the youngest ones that being and feeling different is the best strength you can have early on. I know how difficult it is to not be like others in the playground. That doesn’t mean you’re sad, unsociable, or anything. You’re just early in the process.

I’ve been on Twitter since 2011. Back then it was really really professional. I felt like a boat sailing on a sea of fog, going to the closest island. That’s not being lost — it’s feeling like you’re the only one being like this.

Hopefully, 3-4 years ago I discovered I was not alone. In fact, we all are not alone. I discovered the maker community: Product Hunt, Makerlog, Telegram & Twitter groups… And inside this big community, the student-makers. Like finding your tribe, all over the world.

What’s wonderful is that we don’t judge — quite the opposite: we help and support each other. You can finally show this part of you that you had to hide because people around you didn’t understand. You can finally meet awesome people that will be there when you need them.

Also, in your life you’ve faced people yelling “you’re too young to understand, to do this, to have the gut to handle everything”. I met them, you may have too.

Being different and building your uniqueness early on

The part I dedicate to young people with the ambition to build the next unicorn. A list with the lessons I learned from my experience.

Dream big, keep being enthusiastic — The bigger you dream, the more you’ll want success. Define what success means to you and don’t let other people’s noise take over. Money, acknowledgement, family, happiness, doing what you love? Find your macro goal, your life dream, and find how to climb the steps.

Be realistic with your expectations — It takes a lot of time to be the next Steve Jobs. You can’t get there in two weeks. It takes time before being world-known. Keep your enthusiasm and consume it bit by bit; take shots of it on launch days and small successes so you never run out. It’s also fine to feel that the project you’re working on doesn’t make sense anymore. Just don’t create a vicious circle. Share your achievements every time.

Never drop — You’ll be disappointed. Something gets too difficult, doesn’t turn out well, you feel anxious and ragged. It’s fine to take breaks — days, weeks, months. It doesn’t matter how long, as long as you take care of your health and well-being. My advice: move to something else when you’re running out of motivation. Learn a new thing far from your current area; this is good for your brain.

Entrepreneur? Learn to be independent — Learn to code or no-code (coding may sound hard, but as a student it won’t cost you a penny to host things, while no-code can rapidly get expensive). Learn design (UI/UX). Learn communication and marketing (master social media). Learn to write — it will always be a skill that matters. Learn to be accountable. If it goes wrong, you’re the only one in charge.

Meet people — Being alone doesn’t make sense in a world where we’re all connected. Send emails, DMs, mentions, calls. You can’t be self-sufficient — at some point you need other people’s insights to move forward. Take the leverage of virtual to reach out to everybody around the world. Be kind, don’t be an asshole, and ask for feedback and meaningful contact, not unilateral things.

Build your personal brand — I learned this only lately, but it’s a powerful tool. When you multiply projects, people will think “oh it’s from X, I remember they did this and that, and once I talked with them”. It doesn’t have to be complicated — set up a website, an almost-identical profile on every platform, and you’re ready.

It’s never too late — I’ve heard people say “it was easier back then when nothing existed”. Yes, and back then everything was way more difficult to master and way more costly. You can always find excuses, but if you can’t beat the leader now, be the must-see that will be the leader in the future.

You are early in the process — It’s time to share your creations (Dribbble, Behance, SoundCloud, GitHub, Instagram…). We are in a world where we need evidence to show your journey, so don’t be afraid to share everything. Even if it looks ugly in 6 months, leave it there — people will see your progress and you’ll be happy to see how far you’ve come.

Now you get my point. If something makes you curious, even just a bit, go all in and discover, learn, share it. It’s going to make you happy.

I hope this helped you get started in the maker journey, because that’s what I would’ve loved to hear back then. Good luck being yourself.

Thanks to Minal C. and Romain Penchenat for proofreading.