Ask HN: How much domain knowledge is enough?
3 by Xophmeister | 2 comments on Hacker News.
I am attempting a promotion, but the process has raised numerous red flags that concern me. I’ve posted two to The Workplace[1,2], but my final apprehension is more opinion-based, which I believe the HN community would have a good insight on. I work for a scientific research institution as a software engineer. I have minimal knowledge in the details of the science being done, but the software engineering requirements are orthogonal to this. I’ve picked up a bit and I’m generally interested, but in the six years I’ve worked there, it hasn’t come up enough to warrant the investment. Indeed, there are dedicated staff on the team — two with PhDs in the subject and one with decades of experience — exactly for this purpose. My manager’s argument is that, for the promoted role, I would have to significantly increase my domain knowledge. To an extent, I agree that domain knowledge is useful to perform the job — as a force multiplier — and I don’t have a problem with absorbing some. However, where does one draw the line? Maybe this is facetious, but ultimately it’s all ones and zeros! While it could be argued as diminishing returns in comparison, I believe a better investment (in terms of force multiplication) would be investing further in my engineering skills; especially when a complementary resource readily exists. The obvious answer to my question is, “The amount of domain knowledge you need is the amount your manager wants.” Fair point, but I am trying to analyse the calculus of all this. Paradoxically, employers want employees that are fungible (so they can be easily replaced), but also specialists (so it’s harder for them to move elsewhere). I’m wary — given my other misgivings — that investing energy into a niche domain that I’m not wedded to will make me less employable overall. [1] https://ift.tt/2Gyr0FW [2] https://ift.tt/34jx8de
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