
Ask HN: What actually is the reason Elon Musk has such a diverse career? - hotshot
How to actually build one too
======
josephschmoe
As a physicist working as a software engineer at a hardware company, I can
give a bit of an explanation for this:

1\. Doesn't matter if you're in the business of widgets or SaaS or whatever.
Business is business.

2\. There are really only two engineering disciplines you need a strong
intuitive understanding of: systems and physics.

It is completely possible to be very skillful at all three of these. However,
even for Elon Musk, it would still likely take months of training to keep up
working in a new engineering discipline including all of the idiosyncrasies
and tools. There are plenty of people who are highly knowledgeable in 5+
subjects, but virtually none who are capable of working as a diverse, skilled
experts in more than 3.

If you want to be an expert in multiple fields, find underlying 'core'
disciplines and become an expert on those.

~~~
hemantv
What are some of the underlying core disciplines?

To start one is problem solving, you need to be really good at solving
problems. Another I can think of is finding the right problems to solve.

------
lucb1e
If I knew how to become a billionaire while starting a lot of innovative
companies and having a lot of success, I'd do it instead of hanging around to
tell you. That's not being selfish, that's how I imagine it would be (since I
don't actually know that secret and doubt there is one). Besides, only so many
people can be successful in a society before a certain status is not
considered successful anymore.

~~~
hotshot
I didn't ask about how to be a billionaire or on how to start innovative
companies, I am asking to to actually use different careers altogether to make
it more useful. Elon Musk has in-depth knowledge in physics, economics,
computers, coding and obviously business, a few were a degree course too

------
nicholas73
The actual reason is because he has investors willing to place their faith in
him, as he had made them money in repeat successful exits. He had sold Zip2
and PayPal before starting Tesla and SpaceX. While I don't doubt that he has a
first rate mind, all that is required for his "diverse" companies is to know
how to hire the right people and understand what they are saying.

------
csmdev
Once you understand how the things around us work, jumping in a new field
becomes easy. Everything is connected.

Most people can't do it. Recipes are required. Do that to obtain X result. And
most people apply known principles and methods in order to obtain what they
want. But if you understand how it all fits together, you create your own
recipes. This is what we call innovation.

Some people manage to do it through brute force. Some people are simply born
different. And it all boils down to what you want from life. There is no easy
answer. Some people are simply driven and also have the mental capacity to
understand.

------
dqmdm2
He wants to. Freedom of choice...

------
qwerta
He is an engineer, and that includes many things.

------
rajacombinator
Effective use of really expensive PR people.

