HACKER Q&A
📣 distribot

What’s the best thing to specialize in for creating startup?


Next month will be my 5 year anniversary of being a professional software engineer. I’ve worked at two FANG companies with lots of really talented people and soaked up some stuff.

But I think it’s time for me to begin specializing with the aim of striking out in the next 5 years. No delusions of grandeur, but I like the idea of doing my own thing and especially creating something that is useful to people. I feel like I’ve learned a lot of general software development practices, but no ultra deep, highly relevant skill. I’m kind of average. I like people enough to not be shy. I like basketball, politics, and the same standard shows most folks do. I cant think of any thing that I have a niche in.

I’ve tried to read some intro to ML books, but haven’t been convinced that it’s the way or really swept away. Maybe I’m wrong? Read a bit about smart contracts but still not seized by interest. I’m not a dilettante. I love computers, but I think the days of low hanging fruit are kind of gone and just being a computer guy isn’t enough.

  👤 visox Accepted Answer ✓
Hi i created a lot of side projects (nothing ever "made it", but still). Basically once i knew how to create an rest api, how to store data in db and how to create a website which called my rest api i was more or less able to build everything i wanted. Yes ML is cool and i used it in some of my project but most of the time i used some existing library so it wasn't a show stopper.

So all in all i would say do not specialise at all if you wish to create a startup you need to know a bit of everything i guess.

also checkout my latest side project to find some ideas for your startup https://ideasfilter.com/ lol

👤 d--b
If you want to build your own thing, your skills need to be broad, not deep.

Check these out: https://roadmap.sh/

👤 aristofun
First, congrats!

Second, 5 years even in fang is not really that much, so it’s probably normal and valid feeling of being “average”.

Third, successful startups are usually first of all successful businesses, so the question “what kind of engineer to be to create cool business?” Sounds like “which color shirt should I wear to make America great again?”