We are frequently reminded of the cyclical nature of technology. All of us working in tech are under constant pressure to look for the next shiny thing. In fact we feel as if our livelihoods depend on it. Often our stakeholders may have an expectation that there’s some new thing on the horizon that will give them a competitive advantage. But ultimately it’s not the shiny new tech that helps you beat your competitor.

Given the pandemic’s impact on the economy, there are many Americans rethinking their career situations. One sector that has not only survived but thrived in the current business climate is technology. So many employees are now working remotely, and this is pushing faster adoption of various tech tools. Even more importantly, employers are struggling to do more with less. This is driving even stronger interest in technologies like cloud, automation and AI recently.

Eric Dietrich, author of Developer Hegemony, recently wrote about the need for software engineers to specialize in particular problem domains. In other words, if you’re going to be a great software developer, you need deep domain expertise in a particular vertical. Without that intimate understanding of your stakeholders, it becomes extremely difficult to positively impact the organization you’re working for. Many software engineers attempt to differentiate themselves in terms of their expertise in specific pieces of technology like React, TypeScript, or Python.