Deep domain knowledge + a little bit of programming skill is more valuable than little to no domain knowledge + plenty programming skill.
Of course if you have both then that's the most valuable.
Take data science as an example. The domain knowledge required to truly excel as a data scientist is Statistics. Then add in a little Python, R or Julia and you're set.
The clearest example for me though is this video,
MS Paint is a simple application. Even my grandmother could learn to use it. But neither she nor I would be able to do what Pat Hines does until we learn the more fundamental skill of drawing.
It's the same with programming. Figure out your interest, study the domain and then leverage programming to achieve your goals.
Deep domain knowledge + a little bit of programming skill is more valuable than little to no domain knowledge + plenty programming skill.
Of course if you have both then that's the most valuable.
Take data science as an example. The domain knowledge required to truly excel as a data scientist is Statistics. Then add in a little Python, R or Julia and you're set.
The clearest example for me though is this video,
MS Paint is a simple application. Even my grandmother could learn to use it. But neither she nor I would be able to do what Pat Hines does until we learn the more fundamental skill of drawing.
It's the same with programming. Figure out your interest, study the domain and then leverage programming to achieve your goals.
Funny you said 'excel as a data scientist', because you can do a lot of data sciencing with Excel.