derek_burns•23d agoProlific Poster

Heard a senior dev say "skill stacking" and it clicked for me last Tuesday

I was sitting in on a chat between two guys from the engineering team, and one of them said he got promoted because he could code but also talk to clients and write basic docs. He called it "skill stacking"... just having two or three okay skills instead of one perfect skill. I've been trying to be the best at just my coding stuff for like 2 years now. Anyone else find that mixing in a random second skill helped them move up?

2 comments

2 Comments

calebrivera23d ago

Wait, he said that's why he got promoted? Just because he could write a few paragraphs and not stare at his shoes during a meeting? That's kind of mindblowing to me. I've been grinding leetcode and trying to memorize every design pattern for years now, thinking that was the only way up. Meanwhile this guy is basically saying being a little bit decent at a few things is better than being a wizard at just one. I wonder how many other people are out there getting ahead just because they can talk to a client without panicking or write a readme file that makes sense.

faith_schmidt22d ago

Grinding leetcode for years and watching someone get promoted for not panicking during a conversation does sting a little. I guess being able to explain what you built is more impressive than just building it in complete silence. Maybe I need to add "making eye contact" to my study plan.