This one is for those of you that have been keeping to your field and not venturing out much – I’m talking about you here Terry….
http://radar.oreilly.com/2014/12/what-you-need-to-know-for-the-hardware-software-convergence.html
We now have hardware that acts like software, and software that’s capable of dealing with the complex subtleties of the physical world. So, what must the innovator, the creator, the executive, the researcher, and the artist do to embrace this convergence of hardware and software?
At its core, this is about a shift from discipline toward intent. Individuals and institutions — whether they’re huge enterprises, small start-ups, or nonprofits — must be competent in several disciplines that increasingly overlap, and should be prepared to solve problems by working fluidly across disciplines.
A few years back and over the past few years I have lamented how I am a jack of many and master of none. Seems my time is finally coming to sine.
Gone are the days when tech-heads could just be a silo of knowledge and understanding.
Don’t get me wrong, you still need have deep understanding and skill in a given field, but you can no longer be stubborn or proud of that fact.
You need to have more than a passing understanding of more than that…..
Many problems can be solved somewhere in a large multidimensional envelope that trades off design, mechanics, electronics, software, biology, and business models. Experts might still do the best work in each discipline, but everyone needs to know enough about all of them to know where to position a project between them.
The rest of the article then breaks out a few books and key terms that will give you a good foundation for each area.
Well worth the read. (And effort to follow up on each and spend at least an hour or two reading!).