
Ask HN: What's the most valuable skill to pair with programming? - jamestimmins
I&#x27;m a full stack dev (mostly Python&#x2F;React)&#x2F;software consultant. When I think about skills growth, usually that means new technical skills.<p>I was reading a blog post by patio11 in which he talks about his work assisting with A&#x2F;B testing and email campaigns. It made me wonder, purely as a intellectual exercise, if my goal was to maximize my weekly pay as a consultant, what skills would I be wise to pair with fullstack programming (other than sales)? Design? Copywriting? Marketing? More programming?
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inceptivecss
As a consultant (as opposed to a pair-of-hands freelancer) you want to be
providing solutions to businesses that solve their problems, at a higher level
than "work on this software solution the client designed and just needs me to
implement".

From that perspective, I'd argue that adding more technical skills on top of
your existing ones will have diminishing returns past a reasonable level of
competency.

Instead, focus on being able to provide business value. Learn how to take
general problems a business has and find solutions for them. Not just code
solutions, but new processes and procedures.

If you can solve an expensive problem for a business, you can command a far
higher price than if you're just a pair of hands writing code. Those are a
dime a dozen on Upwork, and clients have trouble seeing any difference in
skillset.

From a technical skills perspective, machine learning and "big data"
processing are in-demand skills with large enterprises, where you can make the
most money solving problems.

I'd be glad to continue this discussion if you have questions about my
answers. My email is in my profile.

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utafric
growth 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 you in this regard. It's applicable for
both B2C acquisition and B2B lead generation.

another compelling angle to take is to get a deep understanding of applied
statistics/ data science so you can build analysis tools or predictive/ML-
driven features on top of the core products you're building. this might
overlap with your existing skills quite well already, plus, it's growing
faster in demand across industries/geographies.

~~~
wjossey
Will second the recommendation to attend reforge. I know Brian personally and
the program is legit. Highly recommend.

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solipsism
More 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.

~~~
VoltairePunk
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. On the other hand, being focused
would make you a niche specialist, which in these days is a thing hard to
find. One must be careful not to learn something that might be gone tomorrow.
I doubt there is a big need for lua or erlang developers these days. You can
be the best, but if you are not needed, this could be simply depressing rather
than useful.

~~~
solipsism
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.

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jppope
> "other than sales" ...You can maximize your weekly pay most by improving
> your Sales.

Otherwise you would want to carve out a niche, become incredibly good at that
one thing and after you have mastered something that few people can do really
well... learn how to sell that better too.

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q-base
Solve 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.

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disconnection
Technical 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.

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herhor
\- woodworking \- sculpting \- knitting \- etc. to stay mentally healthy :-)

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gitgud
Some common high paying skills that could pair with programming:

\- IT Security

\- Database engineer (specailized)

\- AI or Machine Learning

\- Block chain consulting (ughh)

\- Financial analyst

Any one of these specialisations would make you a highly paid consultant... I
assume

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bitsapien
"Pair Programming" lol

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gigatexal
Among the obvious things like the ability to be humble about the code and know
bad code is bad code but you’re not a bad person is decent smelling breath. No
joke.

