- Domain knowledge, understanding the industry and end-users, is often overlooked but highly valuable for software developers.
- It increases autonomy by reducing the need for feedback from others when making user-facing decisions.
- Domain knowledge helps avoid back-and-forth communication and is useful for scoping new projects or features.
- Learning about a new domain is enjoyable and broadens perspective.
- Knowledge for building software can be split into four categories: foundational (computers), stack-specific, product-specific, and domain knowledge.
- Foundational and domain knowledge require explicit learning time, while stack and product knowledge come from daily work.
- Ways to acquire domain knowledge include talking to users, reading industry materials, and taking time to step back.