What’s an Underrated Skill in Computer Science?

University courses Mathematics & Computing
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Hey everyone :waving_hand:

Just wanted to start a little conversation here, I’ve been thinking about how we’re always told to focus on the “big” CS skills: data structures, algorithms, machine learning, etc.

But honestly, some of the most useful things I’ve learned weren’t the ones I expected.

Stuff like:

  • Actually understanding what’s going on in someone else’s code

  • Knowing how to explain a technical idea without losing people

  • Dealing withGit merge conflicts without completely panicking

  • Writing clean code that future you or teammates can actually read

  • Debugging calmly and methodically instead of trying random fixes

These things don’t always get taught directly, but they’ve made a big difference for me especially in uni projects, personal work, and even just studying more efficiently.

So I’m curious, what’s a CS skill you wish you’d learned earlier?

Something that isn’t talked about much, but helped you?

Would love to hear your thoughts!

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Totally agree with this! One skill I wish I learned earlier is how to read documentation properly. Not just skimming for examples, but actually understanding what each function does, the parameters, edge cases, etc. It’s saved me so much time and frustration—feels like a cheat code once it clicks.

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