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I've probably posted this a dozen times, but in the past I contributed millions of dollars of value to various businesses in a few weeks with just ~6 months of

I've probably posted this a dozen times, but in the past I contributed millions of dollars of value to various businesses in a few weeks with just ~6 months of programming experience. I was able to this because I recognized: 1. X is a valuable problem 2. X can be automated Other businesspeople recognized (1) and other programmers recognized (2), but nobody had put them together because the businesspeople lacked computer literacy and the programmers lacked business literacy. So I agree that even basic computer literacy skills can be enormously valuable. It's a bit of a multiplicative effect: if all you have is basic computer literacy, that's not enough. But simple computer skills + strong business skills or simple business skills + strong computer skills are both very powerful combinations.

solistice 13y ago
The same goes for most skills though. I mean programming nicely grips and intertwines with a lot of fields, but recognizing some problem with your guitars bridge and fixing it using your engineering skills is also very much value added work. If you follow this thought that skills multiply with each other in their overall output, you'll arrive at the idea of the renessaince man, one who knows everything well.
- Retric 13y ago
  The key point is programming like reading and basic math touch on a lot of areas. Where say knowing woodworking may be just as hard but is less useful in most situations.
  - solistice 13y ago
    So creating a wood pointing stick from a table leg during a PPT about Derivatives is not an important skill intersection? I beg to differ.
- SatvikBeri 13y ago
  Yeah. It's hard to tell which combinations of skills will be useful. It also changes over time. Math + programming ("Data Science") is in much higher demand today than it was 10 years ago. Knowing what people want + programming is valuable because it falls into the framework of (doing the right things) + (executing well.) Then something like teaching skills + programming leads to the Khan Academy, which was something that essentially wasn't possible before. On the other hand, I would assume that programming + juggling doesn't have much synergy-it seems like most things you could do with programming + juggling could be done either with juggling skills or programming skills. Somebody will probably prove me wrong, though ;)

solistice 13y ago

The same goes for most skills though. I mean programming nicely grips and intertwines with a lot of fields, but recognizing some problem with your guitars bridge and fixing it using your engineering skills is also very much value added work. If you follow this thought that skills multiply with each other in their overall output, you'll arrive at the idea of the renessaince man, one who knows everything well.

Retric 13y ago
The key point is programming like reading and basic math touch on a lot of areas. Where say knowing woodworking may be just as hard but is less useful in most situations.
- solistice 13y ago
  So creating a wood pointing stick from a table leg during a PPT about Derivatives is not an important skill intersection? I beg to differ.
SatvikBeri 13y ago
Yeah. It's hard to tell which combinations of skills will be useful. It also changes over time. Math + programming ("Data Science") is in much higher demand today than it was 10 years ago. Knowing what people want + programming is valuable because it falls into the framework of (doing the right things) + (executing well.) Then something like teaching skills + programming leads to the Khan Academy, which was something that essentially wasn't possible before. On the other hand, I would assume that programming + juggling doesn't have much synergy-it seems like most things you could do with programming + juggling could be done either with juggling skills or programming skills. Somebody will probably prove me wrong, though ;)