As an engineer, it’s especially easy to fall into a trap thinking that technical expertise will carry you for eternity. But because most people can’t even predict tomorrow’s forecast, I highly value adaptability. Transferable skills ground you towards your inner principles even during ever-changing and tumultuous times.
What are some useful transferable skills? #
The most important ones are easily quoted, but rarely executed. An obvious one for an engineer would be critical thinking and problem solving. The more problems I solve, the more nuanced they all seem in retrospect. The universal approach, as suggested by Feynman, is to think real hard, then write the solution down.1
There are also some lessons from domain specific problems that reflect the realities of the greater world. In the programming space, The Mythical Man Month teaches us that patience is not only a virtue, but a necessity for software projects. Few things in life and software can be estimated with any precision. When you’re going through hell, instead of looking towards the uncertain savagery ahead, closing your eyes and being persistent is the best way to keep going.
On the topic of virtues, I think the holy grail of transferable skills is being a virtuous person. Practicing kindness, empathy and generosity towards the people around you not only leads to a more meaningful life, but also a happier community. This lesson is echoed by the history of civilization. Working with people led to great riches and accomplishments, and sometimes led to war and travesty. The major existential problems tend to hinge on how we treat others, and when we help others when it rains, the Golden Rule says that they’ll help you back when it pours.
Notes #
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This article by Ben Kuhn personally resonated with me. The original quote was also supposedly said in jest by Murray Gell-Mann, to poke fun at Feynman’s natural talents and ingenuity. ↩︎