This month I want to highlight an article, The Developers Dilemma — The Skill Trap, by Ben Hosking. Ben examines the dilemma developers face when determining whether to go deep or wide on their technical skill set. Do they continue to invest in their current skills to improve their expertise, or do they branch into new technologies to get ahead of the curve? This article focuses on how a developer remains professionally relevant, however the same dilemma exists when we assess when to leverage new technologies. Do we stick with our existing patterns, or do we take a step forward and risk early adoption problems?

As with most topics, there is no right answer; every situation requires high-judgment thinking. I like this article because it serves as a reminder that we should not make technical choices on auto-pilot, there are always other options. Over time, as we selectively choose our technological steps forward, we smartly grow the business and avoid complacency.

https://itnext.io/the-developers-dilemma-the-skill-trap-f03df1193295

“’Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.’ – Andy Grove”