[Discussion] Am I building a valuable skill set… or just becoming mediocre at 10 different things?

[u/Juless99]

TL;DR: I come from a statistics/data/MEAL background and have worked with SQL, Python, regression/LASSO, etc. While trying to build a proper dashboard, I ended up learning APIs, backend/frontend concepts, Node.js, authentication, and hosting. Is this a logical path toward building end-to-end data systems, or am I spreading myself too thin?

I’m trying to figure out whether my learning path actually makes sense or if I’m slowly turning into a “knows a little bit of everything, expert at nothing” person.

My background is mainly in data, statistics, and monitoring/evaluation. I have a Master’s degree, and during my studies I worked with statistical methods like regression, LASSO, and other statistical analysis.

Professionally, I’ve worked with MEAL/evaluation, data processing and analysis, Excel, SQL, and some Python.

Now my work is pushing me in a different direction.

I wanted to build a proper dashboard/data system instead of just analyzing data and producing reports. That led me into learning about APIs, databases, frontend/backend communication, Node.js, authentication, hosting, etc.

And now I’m looking at everything I’m learning and thinking:

Am I actually progressing, or am I just jumping randomly between fields?

My goal isn’t really to become a traditional full-stack developer.

What I want is to be able to take data from the source, clean and validate it, store it properly, expose it through APIs, build dashboards/interfaces on top of it, and eventually add more advanced analytics, statistics, forecasting, anomaly detection, etc.

So basically:

Statistics → SQL/Python → data analysis → dashboards → APIs → backend/web systems

Does that progression make sense?

Or should I stop going deeper into things like Node.js and focus much more heavily on Python, SQL, statistics, and data engineering?

For people who started in analytics/statistics and later began building actual data systems: what did you learn next, and what turned out to be a waste of time?

[u/va1en0k]

Think in terms of projects and find the most effective use of your time in those projects. A typical project will require a big subset of the progression sequence you outlined, but not all. If you're using AI, it's also worth deciding which steps you'll "give" to AI and which you'd do yourself: statistical modeling or understanding of the domain is something you shouldn't give up responsibility for, but "html layout for a dashboard" is probably not worth your time. Make a few different projects from start to finish and you'll have enough experience. You won't know everything but you'll know what to do if you don't know something.

[u/STATASUCKSBRO]

The dashboard work is coherent if the endpoint is an actual data product. Authentication and hosting are not random detours when other people need to use an analysis. I would stop before becoming the person who also redesigns the CSS.