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Ask HN: What skills do you want to develop or improve in 2026?

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Re: Ask HN: What skills do you want to develop or improve in 2026?

#141

Post by gremlinsinc »

I'm going to learn to ship things. I can build a full SaaS in 5 days using Claude so there is no excuse for me not to ship.

I've been out of work 2 years, had to do a GoFundMe just to survive the winter, and I raised 5k which gave me a runway to get off Uber and Lyft and focus on finding clients to build for add with chatGPT I think I'm in the verge of figuring this freelance thing out ..

other things to learn: I want to get AWS certified and work on other certifications like Service Now... or sales force...

I'm wanting a digital agency but need to figure out the sales aspect.

Re: Ask HN: What skills do you want to develop or improve in 2026?

#142

Post by throwaway2037 »

boricj wrote: post #78

I want to draw again. I used to, when I was in a classroom or at a bar. Actually managed to get quite good at it through sheer boredom in grande école . Then life happened and that faded away, alongside my mental health. Recently I've rediscovered doodling while attending ACM CCS 2025 as an independent (long story) and I want to improve my mental health in 2026, to the point where I can draw regularly again.

Thanks for your openness about with struggling with mental health. It is brutal. For me, exercise really helped. For others, it is reconnecting (or getting closer) with friends and family. Keep at it -- you can beat it!

Re: Ask HN: What skills do you want to develop or improve in 2026?

#144

Post by throwaway2037 »

kenrick95 wrote: post #7

I want to learn driving. I live in a city with well-connected public transport (Singapore) so I don't feel the need to learn. However, this year I travelled to some rural areas in Japan and started to feel the pain of relying solely on public transport which is either extremely sparse, or sometimes non-existent which limits the places I want to visit. That's why I felt like if I obtain this skill, I can explore more…

This is a great idea. Countryside driving is lovely in many places in Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia. Since you are based in Singapore, you can easily go across the border in JB, rent a car and drive into the countryside. There so much beauty in a slow drive through the Malaysian countryside. I use Google Maps (satellite view) to find interesting nature, then try to drive to it.

Re: Ask HN: What skills do you want to develop or improve in 2026?

#145

Post by throwaway2037 »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #10

I'd like to get a full QPSK based OFDM modulator/demodulator implemented in an FPGA. Means improving my Verilog skills, my FPGA tool familiarity, and really understand how to implement OFDM modulators. Create a blog and post at least 8 times to it over the next 12 months, which would be improving my skills with writing and illustration. Design at least two boards and get them through the prototype stage into bringup…

    > Become conversational in Ukrainian.
This one caught my eye! What is your motivation?

Re: Ask HN: What skills do you want to develop or improve in 2026?

#146

Post by qnleigh »

TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #11

I want to build the AGI god in order to bring abundance, wealth, and prosperity to all of humanity. Aside from that, I'd like to shore up the cracks or gaps in my mathematical foundations, and learn more advanced mathematics. I'm still really confused about thermodynamics so that's another topic that I would like to revisit. I've never neen able to convince myself that our current understanding is correct. Honestly,…

> I want to build the AGI god in order to bring abundance, wealth, and prosperity to all of humanity.

What's the plan to make sure that progress in AI leads to predominantly positive outcomes for people? All the people I've asked who work at the major AI companies haven't given an answer, except to say that they don't study safety or societal impacts, but know others who do.

If you don't have an answer, can I humbly suggest that you add finding one to your list?

Re: Ask HN: What skills do you want to develop or improve in 2026?

#147

Post by caro_kann »

moltar wrote: post #103
banbangtuth wrote: post #6

I am a fullstack frontend leaning engineer of 10 YoE (still employed). In the early days of my career I enjoyed learning about various programming languages and reading technical books (although mostly tutorials, nothing to deep technically). These days I don't do those things anymore because I am now older, a lot of responsibilities, and hobbies that I need to do, and also quite comfortable in my comfort zone in ter…

I was in a similar situation a few years back. I wasn’t only focusing on CRUD, but it was a large part of my work too. Mostly working on web-based SaaS projects. I started learning infra via AWS CDK (TypeScript). And by osmosis learned a lot about cloud native application architecture. Which changed my way of creating web apps entirely and rejuvenated my love for software. Still going strong 5 years later. Now with m…

Looks like I'm in that path you've already passed. From January I have to learn CDK because my current job requires me to do. Also planning on to obtain those AWS Cloud Certificates.

Re: Ask HN: What skills do you want to develop or improve in 2026?

#148

Post by throwaway2037 »

Trasmatta wrote: post #20

I'm pretty intensely depressed, so I think I'd like to learn how to be a little less of that. I've tried so many things, but I guess there's always more. Thinking about getting a personal trainer, because I try to stay active, but have no idea how to actually work out. Seems like a good skill to learn, and should help somewhat with the crushing weight my brain seems to be in constantly.

    > Thinking about getting a personal trainer, because I try to stay active, but have no idea how to actually work out.
This is a great idea if you have the money for it. Don't feel guilty about just a few sessions to build up a set exercises that works for you. Then you can circle back 2-4 times per year, do a few more sessions to up your game. For me, exercise was a fuckin' game changer for my mental health. Even when I struggle to get out of bed in the morning, missing a workout makes me feel muuuuuuch worse (mentally and physically).

Edit:

Another thing I just thought of: If a personal trainer is too expensive, consider signing up for a free trial of one of a million different online apps that help you build and structure a workout. Example (no shill here): https://rpstrength.com/. There are lots of competitors. Don't worry about getting everything perfect on the first try. The real trick to exercise is finding what works for you. Dr. Mike (from RP) is constantly banging the drum about experimenting with your own body and health through exercise and diet. Ultimately, you know yourself better than anyone else on this planet.

Re: Ask HN: What skills do you want to develop or improve in 2026?

#149

Post by throwaway2037 »

ludicity wrote: post #100
Trasmatta wrote: post #20

I'm pretty intensely depressed, so I think I'd like to learn how to be a little less of that. I've tried so many things, but I guess there's always more. Thinking about getting a personal trainer, because I try to stay active, but have no idea how to actually work out. Seems like a good skill to learn, and should help somewhat with the crushing weight my brain seems to be in constantly.

I've written about getting out of some giga-depression a few years ago, but having a good therapist was massive. Working out kept me busy and mitigated symptoms, but I don't think I would have improved without a strong psychologist. Hope that helps a little bit. It gets better sometimes!

    > I've written about
If you are willing, can you share a link to any public writing? I'm surprised that we don't see more blog posts shared in HN about people's stuggle with mental health. You definitely see HN posts about it, but I don't see so much blog post sharing.

Re: Ask HN: What skills do you want to develop or improve in 2026?

#150

Post by qnleigh »

fs_software wrote: post #50

I want to learn how to be bored again. I also want to learn how to ask better questions.

These are great. I recently started taking phone holidays, usually on weekends, where for a whole day I don't allow myself to use my phone except to communicate with people.* Sometimes I just wind up bored, sometimes I wind up spending my time better. I've been gradually increasing how frequently I do this.

How would you go about learning to ask better questions?

*Thinking how strange this sentence would sound 20 years ago.

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