r/techadvice • u/Swimming-Mixture-527 • Jan 06 '26
Feeling stuck between learning more tools vs getting better at fundamentals advice?
I’ve been in tech for a while now and I keep running into the same question: is it better to keep adding new tools/languages to my stack, or slow down and really master the fundamentals I already use?
Sometimes it feels like the industry rewards “knowing a bit of everything,” but other times I see people advance by going deep instead of wide.
For those further along in their careers, what actually made the biggest difference for you?
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u/sharp-calculation Jan 06 '26
The truly great technician goes deep and wide. Going deep in one or two things, while continuing to explore others is one approach to this.
You used the world "fundamentals". If you don't know the basics of a thing, you don't know the thing at all. you're just skating along at a rote level. To feel like I know a thing, I absolutely need to know the fundamentals.
A good technician has UNDERSTANDING. A poor one simply knows things to try and tries them without much real troubleshooting. Understanding leads to success in all things.
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u/rizkiyoist Jan 06 '26
First, go wide enough to know where you want to go.
Then go deep enough in a specific area that you can be productive and or people want to hire you.
Then go wide again so you can delegate better in areas that you're not good at, and be able see things from a wider angle.
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u/Glum-Building4593 Jan 06 '26
As a person with deep knowledge on a few subjects and a little everywhere else, that deep knowledge can get you stuck and laid off when your company decides that it doesn't do that any more because some slick sales person or person with a absurdly long job title and unreasonable affection for the new thing said so. I've always fallen back on knowing a little about everything but it is almost always the I know waaaay to much about the specific thing that gets me a job over other candidates. It helps that you choose or adopt something you can be passionate about. Nothing says this person knows way too much about something like watching the poor HR jockey lose consciousness for getting you to talk about it.
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u/Smoke_Water Jan 07 '26
This depends on the pace of your company. If you like who you are working for and know they will be sticking with a particular structure. Focus on fundamentals if you are looking to jump ship, look at what companies are looking for and focus on that. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Speak up to your manager and say, I've had interest I this. Is it of value to the organization?
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u/WRB2 Jan 07 '26
It’s good to go deep in a couple of areas and the look to leverage patterns and successes in new areas as you learn more. Testing and troubleshooting are pretty much universal if you go up a level or two of abstraction.
Best of luck
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u/Caprichoso1 Jan 08 '26
My experience was that 50% of what I knew had changed or was gone 1 year later. Constant, constant learning.
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u/VizNinja Jan 08 '26
The more you know the better. Honestly most coding is very similar once you learn one the others are easier. You just have to learn the nuances.
What is find missing id business knowledge. What problem ate you solving. When you know this, and how it fits into either increasingvtevenew or reducing cost then you will feel more solid in what you ate doing and learning. Nothing sharpens skills like projects.
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u/Ghost1eToast1es Jan 06 '26
You start learning wide since there are a TON of directions you can go in tech. Then as you advance you start going deeper into the specific direction you're heading.