Ask HN: I'm a generalist developer I'd like to specialise. What should I choose? I am currently lead developer in a small web dev agency in Manchester, UK. I'd like to improve my skills offering by choosing a technology specialism and doubling down on that until I reach expert level, making me into one of those much discussed T shaped people. I hope this will also help me find a niche if I decide to start freelancing/consulting. - I am currently capable working with PHP, HTML, CSS, JS (Typescript/React/Redux/Node), Objective-C and have dabbled with many others. - I have some experience designing and provisioning scalable architectures on AWS. - I have a strong interest in new and emerging languages such as Go and Rust but have limited experience working with them. - I hope that by becoming an expert I can start contributing back to the chosen technology, related open-source projects and eventually give talks and teach others. - You can see a few examples of the types of projects I have previously worked on here: https://slicebeans.com . I would like to find an interesting (I know this is very subjective) and profitable niche, preferably in an area that has, or will soon have, an expert shortage. A few ideas I've had: - AWS or Google Cloud architect - iOS developer specialising in music streaming apps - Devops consulting for small agencies Any and all advice is gladly received. |