Ask HN: What are the most valuable skills in our industry going forward?

by rblion on 1/15/2025, 10:07:31 PM with 4 comments
I was born in 1990. Got my first computer in 1995 and wrote my first line of code in the year 2000 in Visual Basic. I discovered the startup world after watching Steve Job's commencement speech and not long after Hacker News became a daily read with my coffee.

I am 35 now and live in Kauai (moved here after the Maui fires). I am a 'creative developer' with an agency where I help good people doing good work make great impact. It's a solo operation because I wear multiple hats and am starting to leverage AI to do more faster.

I am thinking about applying to YC with an app I building. I am a solo founder but will definitely find a co-founder one way or another. I am starting to get the feeling that AI is getting so good that if I focus on designing, marketing, and sales with enough understanding of product development, all I would really need is a small team of engineers (with equity) to make sure everything is functional, secure, and scalable.

Am I oversimplifying this or missing something? I believe what I am building is very unique, has great potential, solve real problems for the entire biosphere, and FEELS GOOD as a brand, a way of life. It would challenge the current paradigm to think bigger and feel deeper about many things.

  • by caprock on 1/15/2025, 10:15:50 PM

    I'd say the most valuable skills are ability to learn / adapt, attention to detail, curiosity, and resilience.

    It seems like you're doing things right. Just keep iterating, learn from experiments, and do it again. Sure, you might be over-simplifying some things, but you'll figure those things out with each experiment. Go with your energy and keep iterating.

  • by throwawaysleep on 1/15/2025, 10:24:40 PM

    Willingness to fake it until you make it. Elon Musk/Trump are about to demolish what few consumer/investor protections exist.