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Ask HN: What non-technical skill boosted your engineering career the most?

by pranav_tech26·1d ago·7 comments·view on hn ↗

For me it was learning how to communicate technical trade-offs clearly to non-technical stakeholders and writing concise documentation. What skills made a major difference for you?

7 comments

Managing up. Telling my boss what they wanted to know before they had to ask me for it.

Networking, some people hate it but it makes careers so learn to do it.

I didn't see it until after the fact but preventing burn out. I was tech 100% and loved every bit. Eventually I burned out and it severely impacted my ability to stay up to date with new tech.

Being able to quickly write, to the point that documenting isn't a bother, makes things much easier to keep track of and share with others.

Improv believe it or not.

Honestly: Lazyness. Nearly all I do has being lazy as core motive. Never create myself more work.

I count that as an engineering skill. If someone didn't learn engineering in a series of attempts to automate away tasks, they're not going to be a good engineer.

so much this. I’ve been in the industry for three decades and absolute thread that connects the best people I’ve ever worked with is that they are lazy at their core. laziness breeds automation, removes duplication and redundancy (and boredom).