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Ask HN: What's the most valuable skill to pair with programming?
11–16 of 16 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable skill to pair with programming?
#12growth is all the rage these days among startups. essentially how you can use tech to make products that market themselves in more predictable/ sustainable ways than just one-off product launches or paid ad campaigns. i've seen full-stack devs go into growth/marketing and essentially operate as a one-person team since they can launch and scale tests from idea to iteration. What's going on at reforge.com may interest…
Will second the recommendation to attend reforge. I know Brian personally and the program is legit. Highly recommend.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable skill to pair with programming?
#13More focused programming. Become an expert at a more narrow niche than "full stack programming". Trying to do two completely different jobs is going to lead to poor performance in both.
I would disagree with the second part of your statement where trying to do completely different jobs will lead to poor performance. It is indeed a double edged sword, however the real world (languages, frameworks, libraries, technologies, trends) change extremely quickly. Having the ability to react and adapt by understanding programming abstractions and fundamentals will help you rather than lead to poor performance…
Op said "pair with full stack programming". They didn't say "move into, benefiting from my previous experience programming".
I doubt there is a big need for lua or erlang developers these days.
Have you ever heard of painter who specializes in Behr (a brand of paint)? That is not a specialization, that's a tool choice.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable skill to pair with programming?
#14Technical proposal and grant writing. If you team up with people from disciplines other than programming+architecture, who can each deal with different aspects of the one proposal, you can pull in very large contracts together.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable skill to pair with programming?
#15Solve problems and create value.
Look at the entire flow of the product you are a part of. Get to know as much about it as possible and get a deep understanding of the full picture. You will probably be surprised at how many people, permanent as contractors, who only look narrowly at their little pond and solves issues without a general understanding of the entire business.
Don't try to be cocky know-it-all, but humbly suggest when you see a better solution for a problem or spots a potential problem coming up in the horizon.
When you have a good understanding of the entire business and the part your product plays in it, then you will also be better at seeing the parts where it hurts the most. Suggest to help there. Take on as much responsibility as you can handle. Be the one that solves the problems and creates value for the business, then you in turn also raise your own value.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable skill to pair with programming?
#16- woodworking
- sculpting
- knitting
- etc.
to stay mentally healthy :-)