How to develop T-shaped skills - Do it yourself mindset

One mindset that has helped me a lot is “do it yourself”. I tend to be curious about the creation process behind experiences and products that I enjoy, for example learning programming to make video games instead of only playing them.

Growing up, I remember seeing my mother apply the same principle - she did home maintenance such as fix plumbing issues or tinker with wiring. She also makes artisanal soap from scratch with animal fat and herbs grown in the backyard, plants crops (corn, beans, etc.), and is an entrepreneur. All this, coming from a bachelor’s degree in engineering.

Nowadays, both of us outsource plenty of those tasks, that we once did out of curiosity. However, having that drive to learn from first principles, to reaching a journeyperson level competency in many, seemingly random, topics, has benefited my career growth.

In other words, this “do it yourself”, or DIY, mindset can can be thought of as building the horizontal bar of a person’s “T shaped skills”.

In this article, I’ll examine how to rapidly expand the breadth of one’s skills in different areas, and why this is so important to staying competitive in a rapidly changing world.

Assorted Q&A: avoid distractions during pomodoro, my favorite failure, and more

I've collected some questions from coffee chats or messages. Commonly asked were details on my pomodoro practice and how to avoid distractions, along with career questions. Here are the answers.

Push beyond dabbling, and build true pursuits - 3 steps that I've learned

When it comes to my hobbies, I tend to go all in. Here are the 3 steps I take when exploring a new hobby, which could lead to diving deep into that pursuit.

Goalsetting patterns - sprints vs. marathons

Retrospective on various goals and projects, shows different types of goal patterns, and different strategies suited to achieve them.

How to become involved in the machine learning community: Beginner's guide toward public speaking

I am invited to speak at many events in machine learning and game development. Here's how I got started, from the very beginning.

Career awareness: Are you being paid in carnival cash?

It helps to be more aware of true compensation and promotions in a job, instead of carnival cash. Here's how you can grow your career with this mindset.

Top 5 things I learned in the last 5 years

I share the top 5 lessons I have learned, often the hard way, in the past few years. These lessons have helped me immensely in my career and in my goals, and will continue to do so.

Why I post content on my own website, and how you can build your own

Here's why I prefer posting on my site and delay posting to third-party sites like Medium. Also, a step by step on how you can create your own tech blog!

Data scientist career Q&A - Careerfair.io interview

I answered some questions about my current role, my career in data science, and also how I transitioned from an economics education background and game development to being a data scientist.

No one loses: Career as an infinite game

I see career as an infinite game - where a rising tide lifts all boats. For one to get the best outcome, it is not by winning and making others lose, but rather, continuous growth and improvement.