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Ask HN: What's a surprisingly useful tech skill that's underrated today?

30 points Userrr | 3 comments | 12 Apr 25 08:13 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

We often talk about mastering popular languages, frameworks, and AI tools. But what about the less-hyped skills that quietly make you 10x more effective?

For example:

Knowing how to write a custom shell script that replaces a SaaS tool

Building internal tools with no-code + cron + GitHub Actions

Understanding how to optimize a slow SQL query line-by-line

Crafting a bash one-liner that saves you hours every week

Using the command line like a superpower

I'm curious: What are the most underrated but highly valuable tech skills you've learned that more people should know about?

Would love to hear stories, examples, or even niche tools you swear by. Bonus points if it’s something you only discovered by accident or necessity, not through a tutorial.

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andelink ◴[12 Apr 25 14:44 UTC] No.43664817[source]▶
1. Giving a damn. The majority of people don’t care at all about the work being performed. You can easily distinguish yourself by simply caring about whatever it is you’re working on.

2. A natural consequence of the above: fully reading the documentation, be it man pages or the official technical reference for a given technology. It’s incredible how many people don’t read documentation. You can become one of the foremost experts in your company simply by reading the documentation from front to back. You will seem like a genius.

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mooreds ◴[12 Apr 25 14:49 UTC] No.43664867[source]▶
> Giving a damn.

This is an underrated skill. I agree, the bar is so low that even a little bit of care/user empathy will make you stand out.

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1. moondev ◴[13 Apr 25 06:19 UTC] No.43670515[source]▶
If giving a damn makes you stand out, it seems like that would indicate none of your peers or colleagues give a damn. Working at a place where you are the only person that gives a damn feels like torture.

I also wonder how much tangible value can be created by a group of incompetent people that care, compared to a group of skilled people that don't.

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2. Dementor430 ◴[13 Apr 25 08:13 UTC] No.43671031[source]▶
Well, the incompetent will find a way to make it work. Since management usually only cares about that, it will be fine. The competent who dont give a damn will basically result to vibe coding and receive similar results. Just with lower cost.
3. bruce511 ◴[14 Apr 25 05:30 UTC] No.43678348[source]▶
It's interesting how personal experience colors this view.

Personally I've had the odd colleague who didn't care, but they typically moved on, or got moved on, after a while.

But lots of people here have obviously experienced it, perhaps at multiple places, and so project that to "all companies".

I guess it does matter where you work, and perhaps numbering staff in thousands, or tens of thousands, means you end up with a lot of dross?