Unicorn Developer
Developers nowadays need to write the user interface, backend server, native apps, manage the database, and admin it in production while being proficient in the business domain. Is this possible and real?
Developer should be a problem solver: #
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What Silicon Valley "Gets" about Software Engineers that Traditional Companies Do Not. I've found it inspirational.
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Developer Hegemony: The Future of Labor by Erik Dietrich. I'm still not sure what to think of this one. Interesting for sure. It could have been shorter, and it would improve the clarity of the message. But I'm still thinking about it, so even if you happen to disagree, it's always worth having another perspective on corporations and the rat race.
Don’t just master one small domain; try to understand a bit about every aspect of your industry, from business needs, to hosting, to user experience. That way we can contribute intelligently and reduce the communication cost between separate teams.
Unicorn critique: #
- The Rise of The Unicorns AKA "Full-Stack Developers"
- The Myth of the Full-Stack Unicorn Developer
- 3-IN-1 DEVELOPER: A JACK OF ALL TRADES OR A UNICORN?
- Generalist vs Specialist by Brian Balfour
Being A Generalist Does Not Maximize Your Career Path
But being a generalist almost never maximizes your career path. A good quote from Matt Greenberg, CTO @ Reforge and Former VP Engineering at Credit Karma:
"Impact is the most valuable thing you can grow in order to grow your career. The bigger the problem the bigger the impact needed to resolve it. In our career, learning to tackle the biggest problems well gets us the most personal and professional return. But the bigger the problem, the deeper the expertise is required to solve it. For simple problems in our bathroom, you can do it yourself. When the problems get large enough, you hire a plumber. As a company scales it is almost always looking to replace generalists with specialists who can do something the generalist could never do."
Standard vs Peculiar #
Interview with Seth Godin about his new book The Practice: Why You've Been Lied to About Where to Put Your Time, Energy, & Focus | Seth Godin on Impact Theory
Most systems want you to be ‘standard’.
figure out what you can do instead where you actually benefit by being you.
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