Diverse Knowledge Portfolio

If you’re a clever and astute investor, you’re familiar with the basic guiding axiom of not putting all your eggs in one basket. You would create your investment portfolio in such a way, that your assets and shares are as diversified as possible. This will spread the risk and reduce the chance of losing all of your capital, in case one of the chosen companies decides to take a dive. This same principle can be exploited in software engineering to your professional advantage.

Lets say, you’re currently working only on Java/J2EE technologies, and your current pragmatic viewpoint is that, ‘I’m going to be more efficient in my area of expertise’. The truth is, by deciding to be a specialist in just one technology, you’re exposing yourself to the risk of getting outdated at some later date. This is where having a diverse Knowledge Portfolio comes to the rescue. Having a diverse Knowledge Portfolio means, in crude terms, to be an expert of varied technologies. The first step is to look at yourself, look at what you like, what you want to be doing and how you see yourself in five years’ time. Then, you need to look at the market and deduce where the market is heading. Your driving thought should be: “Okay, this is where I would like to be and this is how I am going to get there.” This does not invalidate the necessity of being a specialist in your chosen technology, but just being good in one area is not sufficient, as it will limit your scope of growth.

For example, you think you are good in Java and can code a function with your eyes closed. This thought, though comforting, can make you complacent and you start trusting this limited technical prowess to see you through. Pause for a moment and think about it, Java has seen a swift and abrupt rise in the tech market and has replaced C/C++ to be a part of major Web technologies today. How can you be sure that some future language/technology will not surpass Java’s glory and dethrone it from the top position? But, if you proactively invest your time and energy, to learn a new language, framework, or an emerging trend, you’d position yourself to face the vicissitudes of the tech market. You might feel, that in future Sun and Microsoft marriage is imminent, and that Java and .NET applications might be talking to each other more often (e.g. A .NET front end talking to J2EE backend). In this case, someone who knows both will be more valuable and indispensable. Look for value, that’s the key. Related to that is diversification. If you diversify, what you’re doing is you’re spreading the risk and a typical portfolio should have low risk low return, high-risk high return, and in the technology world the same thing applies.

This is also true when developers are expected to possess domain knowledge, along with their technical expertise. If a software engineer working in an Insurance domain is fluent in Insurance lingo, his work will provide more value than a developer with superficial knowledge of the Insurance industry. The future belongs to versatile developers who can smoothly juggle and mix technology with domain knowledge.

So, if you’re keen on securing your future, sketch out your Knowledge Portfolio; start with what you know, what you like and what you feel is lacking in your current skill set. Find out emerging trends, core technologies that will dominate the next wave of technological revolution. Chart out a plan for yourself, update your skill set and position yourself to catch this revolutionary tide when it arises. But remember don’t be rigid. Watch out for the trends, and keep revising your portfolio as when the upcoming trend shows deviation. This is similar to what you’d do with your Investment Portfolio. You add or remove assets as when the stock price changes drastically to prevent losses.

Bottom line: Be an active investor of your knowledge portfolio. Being a smart worker with vision and plan, beats being a hard worker without any goal. So, don’t invest all your time and energy in one knowledge pot, diversify it.