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

31 points Userrr | 1 comments | 12 Apr 25 08:13 UTC | HN request time: 0.289s | 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.

1. MarcoamGarcia ◴[17 Apr 25 14:06 UTC] No.43717074[source]▶
Honestly? Social skills to deal with customers. It’s not glamorous, but knowing how to talk to users, ask the right questions, and translate their vague complaints into actionable feedback is massively underrated in tech. I’ve seen engineers spend days debugging the wrong thing simply because no one thought to clarify what the user meant. On the flip side, a quick empathetic conversation can uncover the real problem in five minutes. It’s a skill that’s rarely taught, but it turns support calls, bug reports, and even roadmap debates into something way more productive. Hugely valuable—especially if you’re building or supporting a product.