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To specialize or not to specialize, that is the question.

dougw

Electronics and software are gigantic fields that are expanding at an exponential rate with far more new information every day than it is possible to assimilate. How do you deal with it? How should you deal with it? You want to stay relevant and contribute without becoming obsolete. Managing your time in such an environment is crucial to being able to remain an effective contributor. Especially if you want a "balanced" life that includes both technical and non-technical endeavors.

  1. Do you decide to focus on a niche where you can hope to stay informed of the latest developments?
  2. Do you try to track the major new developments at a high level and just dive in a bit when something catches your interest?
  3. Do you do a deep dive learning sprint whenever a new project demands it?
  4. Do you only perk up and put it in gear when something really interesting crosses your radar?
  5. Do you just rely on Google when you perceive a need for information?
  6. Do you give up and go into management?
  7. Do you just coast along doing interesting things that are in your comfort zone?
  8. Do you hang out on element14 as a compromise between information overload and enjoying the ride?
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  • I follow a totally chaotic scheme. My learning interests are constantly changing.

    In my paid job I dedicate myself to programming the backend of a payment gateway, mainly old ISO8583 financial protocols in JAVA, but I am the person where the technical questions that nobody knows how to answer end up. And in many cases I don't know what to answer either.

    Many questions have to do with problems with payment devices that we do not manufacture and have problems that the manufacturer does not recognize, they can be problems with NFC, USB, Ethernet, Wi-FI, Bluetooth, BLE and communication protocols or new technologies such as machine learning, microservices, cloud computing... Every time I find myself in that situation, my interest in what I want to learn instantly changes.

    Then I start my search for one or two books that deal with that topic in depth, I try to find them in print, buy them and read them. First, a quick read to find out what I hadn't been able to answer and then I'll try to carry out small projects to fully understand what I've learned.

    In the past years before knowing element14 I spent my learning time taking courses on Coursera and Edx, I always considered that those courses had a too slow pace for me and the discovery of element14 and learning by doing has hooked me even in subjects that, in principle, they have nothing to do with my profession, but they train me in problem solving, which is something I need on a daily basis.

    There was a time in my life when I was promoted to director of operations of a technology company and after 10 years dedicated to management, I decided to change companies and dedicate myself to software development. It was a radical change; I was able to have more time for the family and time to learn new things. I do not regret. My times as a manager taught me how to focus my work at the service of my new managers and I think they appreciate that skill.

  • in reply to javagoza

    I don't know about chaotic - it sounds pretty rational to me. Relaxed

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