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by CDCollier 3065 days ago
I see nothing here that an inept individual with a 4 year degree and an attuned interest in the industry couldn't achieve within 10 years. Much less if they are motivated and establish healthy habits.

I don't see bullet-proof or laser vision on the list.

Besides, wouldn't you want to know all of this? The bigger your tool set, the better your development.

3 comments

No, I wouldn't. Bruce Lee once said, "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." The opportunity cost of learning 25 new technologies is that you miss out on learning any one of them very well.

I've seen lots of companies throw a giant mess of libraries/frameworks/services at a problem, even though nobody working on it really understands any of them, so they resort to solving every problem by googling. If expertise is to be replaced by StackOverflow, what's the point of requiring it?

I don't think I could have a "deep understanding" of more than a handful of these, in a lifetime.

But they'd need to also be read tea leaves and predict that there will be this job ad back in 2008, so they can spend 10 years fine tuning their career and tech choice of stacks to suit this ad, imposing CV-driven development as collateral damage at every company they have worked for.

... Or they could have purchased 1000 bitcoins for $10. :-)

Eh it just optimizes for someone with high intellectual curiosity imo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Imagine tech stacks are lottery balls. And they ask for 6 specific ones. What are the odds that you've picked the right balls? Unless we are talking about quantum humans that can learn all the things at the same time.
Staying informed, daily, on trends and reading the latest material helps the individual to adjust to meet the changing industry.

Study Computer Science, pick up a few languages, familiarize yourself with various technologies, read white papers and journals, and connect with experienced professionals in the industry. You needn't be fully prepared for all of the requirements, you need only be cognizant of the evolution of the industry and quick to study advancements in your field (as with just about any industry).

I think the job wants people with experience in those technologies, not just people who have read about them on HN.
I realize you did a Show HN on the shrug emoji, but please don't use it excessively on HN.
Except I don't think that's the case. The field is too wide for someone's attention to go deep in all of those areas. You might say, well give me a 10 yr runway. The problem is most of those technologies won't be the same in 10 yrs.
You're absolutely right, but staying informed is part of the responsibility.

PHP, SQL, HTML, CSS and Linux haven't changed so significantly since 2008 that someone who was proficient in 2008 couldn't relatively easily pick it up again today.

There are certainly new expectations and applications which arise every 18 months, but anyone who stays fluent will have little difficulty in mastering all of these - and more.