Yeah, I have a curiosity about how things work and it has allowed me to acquire a broad set of skills, including the skill of learning skills. Kinda lucky living in the internet age where so many things are much easier to learn than they would otherwise be.

I think a part of it is that when I learn something, I want to really understand it. It makes me not so great as a teacher, because I end up going into way too much detail (because those are what helped me learn), but it gives a deeper understanding that allows me to improvise on what I can do.

It also has shown me the value of people who understand how multiple specialties can fit together, especially when I go in only knowing one and can experience the shift from “why do they want this thing that way? What a silly requirement.” to “oh, ok, that makes sense, you need that to do another important thing I didn’t even realize was necessary”. And the best is when, now that I have some understanding of both sides, I can see a better solution that accomplishes both goals and makes everyone happy.

Actually, it’s the best for a little bit, until it’s time to present the idea to multiple teams working together, because if it’s a change, a lot of people aren’t interested, they just see the work to implement the change and not all of the other work that becomes easier or unnecessary after that’s done, so it can be frustrating.