
Ask HN: What should I learn in next 1 year to become the top one percent - samrohn
Given that I can consistently dedicate 1 hr every day, what &#x27;tangible&#x27; skill I should master to become top 1% or even 10% in a particular field.
I am a python developer with 4 years of experience.<p>edit: Why? If you are the top one percent in any competitive field, income and freedom will follow the same without much effort. Of course, this is one reason. But I recently read about the power of playing the long game here: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;fs.blog&#x2F;2018&#x2F;10&#x2F;long-game&#x2F;.<p>So my assumption here is if I am able to put consistent effort towards something in long run, it shouldn&#x27;t be difficult to master.<p>edit2: Okey. I think I underestimated what it takes to be the top 1 percent. What about top 10 or 25 percent? I think there is enough you can achieve with that level of mastery.
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keiferski
I recommend Scott Adams’ advice.

 _If you want an average successful life, it doesn’t take much planning. Just
stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if
you want something extraordinary, you have two paths:

1\. Become the best at one specific thing.

2\. Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things.

The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. Few people
will ever play in the NBA or make a platinum album. I don’t recommend anyone
even try.

The second strategy is fairly easy. Everyone has at least a few areas in which
they could be in the top 25% with some effort. In my case, I can draw better
than most people, but I’m hardly an artist. And I’m not any funnier than the
average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I’m funnier than most
people. The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes.

It’s the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare. And when you add
in my business background, suddenly I had a topic that few cartoonists could
hope to understand without living it._

[https://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/07/car...](https://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/07/career-
advice.html)

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lelabo_42
As nobody answered with a technical aspect, I would recommend you to watch the
tendencies: what are the fields with the higher salaries?

For the US, for example, it seems that mastering AI/ML is one of the ways to
go.

This might depend on your country. In mine (France), it seems that being good
technical dev with pure-python and full stack skills with a touch of project
conception/management skills.

Our startups have a lot of trouble in finding developers and we don't need
that much of one particular special skills (which might be true for big
companies, but the salaries there are not that high when you start and it
takes years to obtain one).

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sethammons
The best Python developer in the world could be toiling away in their parent's
basement when not working for substandard pay for some game company. Being the
best at something does not equal income and freedom.

Provide value to someone (or, better, many someones), is the best way towards
better finances. You can save aggressively and retire. The more value you
provide, the more you can financially win.

Again, no need to be the best. Probably not even top x%. The big secret nobody
tells folks: Everyone is winging it.

If you want to master a craft, you could leverage that craft to provide value.
But it is not some one to one magical coupling.

I'm reminded of: is it better to be good or lucky? I'd say lucky, and luck
favors the prepared. I was lucky enough to practice coding and solve a few
people's problems with it and when a recruiter sent me to a promising startup,
I was able to get in early. Lucky me Through very hard work, I kept up, grew
professionally, and thrived in that environment. Again, lucky me. And through
more luck (coupled with the skills of those running everything), the org
IPO'd. Again, lucky me. At this point in my career, as long as there is a tech
sector working with distributed systems, I should be able to obtain gainful
employment (again, lucky me). I'm still not entirely sure how to provide value
outside of that circle, but if I were to figure it out, I could likely achieve
financial freedom much faster.

Sorry for the rambling. Just woke up. Time to get back to the grind (which I
enjoy fwiw).

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lakevictory
"income and freedom will follow the same without much effort" \- you are very
wrong here. getting to 1% takes as much effort as staying there. sacrifices
you make getting there will take away some of your freedoms. income of 1% is
subject to change. there is no final win in life after which you can just
"settle". the only certain thing is death.

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dagw
Something you're interested in that's completely unrelated to programming.
Let's be honest, you're almost certainly not going to become a top 1%
developer with just 5 years of experience. However you could easily become one
of the best programmers who's also an expert within a certain niche of botany
for example. There will always be a niche demand for people that really
understand X and can program, for almost any value of X.

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gregjor
One hour a day probably isn’t enough to master any useful skill.

How would you measure the top 1%? Income? A lot more than skill goes into
success, or making a lot of money. Luck and circumstances and who you know,
for example.

I don’t think of programming as a competitive field. You can either add value
that someone will pay for, or you can’t. Perceived coding ability usually has
little to do with it.

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allanmacgregor
You need to elaborate more, the question as it stands right now is a bit
nonsensical. What is the criteria you are using to meet who belong to the top
1% of a field? is it income? is it mastery of a particular skill?

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philip142au
You want to be top 1% but you don't know why, so you don't have any reason to
do so and you don't know what you want to be top 1% of.

Whats the point?

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Cypher
be a good parent

