Practicing code specifically is one of many options for engineers right now. How about other skills? For example, now seems like a good opportunity to start developing deep knowledge in a particular domain, so that when you build AI assisted software in that space, you’re competent enough to know if it’s doing the right thing. Or, develop a better understanding of a range of disciplines, so that when you go to solve problems, you’re aware of them and have more areas to draw from. (The combination is what Valve calls a T-shaped employee I believe.) Also a good opportunity to develop your interpersonal skills.

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ehnto 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

I agree. I think the rapid learning generalist has a real advantage right now, but that kind of advantage cannot be leveraged by big companies structured to utilise specialists. I think that's why individual contributors in big teams aren't seeing massive benefits from AI where a small team or solo developer may be seeing greater leverage.

If you are a strong generalist with an entrepreneurial spirit, I think I would be aiming at getting hired by a small company where you can provide a buttload of value or looking at starting something where you have domain experience outside of software.

	▲	sph 4 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Generalists are more competent by definition, but large companies don’t need broad competence, they just need a cog.
	▲	Nevermark 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> I think that's why individual contributors in big teams aren't seeing massive benefits from AI where a small team or solo developer may be seeing greater leverage. This rings true. It is the best time ever for small teams. A big team is potentially several smaller teams, so this can be a force multiplier for them too. Another force multiplier for reorganizing larger teams, be willing to consider smaller teams starting with single contributors. What this is the worst time for: slow adaptation.

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saghm 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> The combination is what Valve calls a T-shaped employee I believe

For what it's worth, I've heard this at jobs before, and I've never worked at Valve (or as far as I'm aware with anyone who worked at Valve previously). I think it's probably more common than just something they say.

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grttw 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Actually this does nothing but create more noise in an org.

The Job of the engineer is to be really good with the tech not business.

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elephanlemon 3 days ago | parent [-]

Some examples of skills you could develop:

-formal verification

-computational fluid dynamics

-control theory

-materials science

-graphics

I think what I’m suggesting is: consider being more than just a software engineer. Become a software engineer with expertise in other fields. Or a software engineer AND a fluid simulation engineer. This might not make sense for someone who currently works at say a business SaaS company, but how much longer are those jobs going to be around?

But this is also a great time to be building your own business, in which case you may want to develop business related skills.

	▲	glouwbug 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		I had exactly this way of thinking last year and began specializing myself: github.com/glouw/ensim4 I reckon moving forward software will became an applied tool to the applied sciences. I mean, it always has been, but the barrier to entry has lowered for the easily verifiable, and that is programming, and not the problem being solved