In today’s fast-paced world, carving out a unique niche is less about mastering one skill and more about combining multiple, complementary ones.
Enter skill stacking—a deliberate process of adding diverse abilities over time to create a unique advantage.
My journey through skill stacking has profoundly shaped my career, and today, I’ll share how you can apply this approach to create your own “category of one.”
Why Skill Stacking Matters
Traditional specialization has its limits. For years, hyper-specialization was the norm. You’d master a narrow field and build your reputation there. But in today’s fast-changing world, driven by collaboration and innovation, this approach has limitations. Specialists can miss the bigger picture, and when industries evolve, their narrow expertise can leave them behind.
Skill stacking, on the other hand, allows you to blend fields, create fresh perspectives, and address problems in ways others can’t. It’s not about being the best in one area—it’s about excelling where disciplines meet.
Consider this: Would you rather compete in a crowded field or define one where you’re the leader?
How to Start Your Skill Stacking Journey
Step 1: Audit Your Current Skill Set
Begin by taking stock of your existing skills and interests. What are you already good at? Where do you feel most confident? This is your foundation.
For me, it was epidemiology. This was the core that I built upon. My Master’s thesis in clinical and translational research was rooted in traditional public health methods, working with statistical models and large datasets. It was rigorous and rewarding, but something was missing: a sense of creative possibility.
📝 Pro Tip: Identify your starting point, then think about complementary skills that could enhance your work. Your foundation doesn’t have to be perfect—it just needs to be strong enough to support the skills you’ll add.
Step 2: Stay Open to the Unexpected
Sometimes, the best opportunities come by accident. That AI course I took wasn’t part of my original plan—it was serendipity. I needed 3 more credits to complete my Master’s in research training, and I only took a pharmacogenomics course because my wife was taking it. I had little interest in pharmacogenomics at the time, but one lecture on machine learning intrigued me. I then took an extra course on machine learning and AI offered by the same lecturer at the Mayo Clinic. Slowly, I kept building on it.
So, be open to trying new things, even if they seem tangential to your field.
📝 Pro Tip: Follow your curiosity (instead of passion). What topics or tools have intrigued you but remained unexplored? Take a small step toward them—a low-investment course, a small project, or a workshop.
Step 3: Intelligent Experimentation
Skill stacking isn’t about chasing every shiny object. Instead, focus on intelligent experimentation:
- Start with small, low-risk projects to test new skills.
- Look for ways to integrate them into your current work.
- Evaluate what resonates with you and aligns with your long-term goals.
For instance, when ChatGPT was introduced in November 2022, it immediately caught my attention, given my background in AI and machine learning. I began using generative AI, like ChatGPT, in my research without abandoning my epidemiological work. Instead, I asked: “How can this enhance what I already do?” I started using these tools to make my data extraction process from medical charts more efficient.
One by one, these skills integrated into my work. What started as pure epidemiology evolved into a multidisciplinary niche at the intersection of epidemiology, AI, biomedical informatics, and generative AI tools. This blend became my “category of one”—a unique combination of skills that set me apart in my field.
📝 Pro Tip: Start small. Use your new skill to solve a problem you already face in your work. Not every skill will stick, and that’s okay. The goal is to find what resonates.
Step 4: Build a Category of ONE
As you add new skills, look for ways to combine them into something unique. The power of skill stacking lies in integration:
- AI + bioinformatics + genetics = Electronic medical records predictive models for personalized medicine.
- LLMs + public health = Tools for real-time disease surveillance.
The possibilities are endless. The goal is to create a niche that’s uniquely yours—a category of ONE.
Cirque du Soleil revolutionized live entertainment by merging circus with theater. Pixar redefined animated filmmaking by combining groundbreaking technology with compelling storytelling, setting a gold standard in the industry. Steve Jobs transformed the tech industry by blending technology with art and design, creating products that redefined user experience and set a new standard in innovation.
While I am nowhere close to the examples above, combining machine learning, generative AI, bioinformatics, and genetics with my expertise in psoriatic arthritis and epidemiology has helped me create a distinct path from my mentors and peers.
📝 Pro Tip: Think about intersections. Can you incorporate exciting elements from adjacent fields into your work?
Step 5: Embrace Failure as a Learning Tool
Not every experiment will succeed—and that’s okay. Each failure is an opportunity to refine your approach and identify what truly works. As you experiment with new skills to stack, reflect on what aligns with your broader goals and complements your existing strengths. Learning from setbacks ensures that your skill stacking remains intentional and productive.
For instance, I’ve had many collaborations and projects that went nowhere. I wrote my first big grant on a disease called ankylosing spondylitis (my father, unfortunately, suffers from it). That grant got rejected twice because reviewers were unconvinced of its significance. So, I pivoted to psoriatic arthritis, a related disease, and completely overhauled my grant. By leveraging the lessons from my failed attempts, I focused on establishing the project’s significance, which ultimately led to its success.
📝 Pro Tip: Reflect on your last failure. Use it as a stepping stone to guide your future experiments. What lessons can you carry forward to improve your skill stacking strategy?
The Age of Polymath Specialists
Skill stacking transforms you from a hyper-specialist into an invaluable “polymath specialist.” A polymath specialist isn’t a jack-of-all-trades; it’s someone with deep expertise in a specific area and branches extending into complementary fields. You may not be the best in any single field, but the combination makes you incomparable—and truly unique.
You become the person who:
- Sees connections others miss.
- Solves problems in innovative ways.
- Brings a unique perspective to every project.
This isn’t just about career advancement—it’s about creating work that excites and fulfills you while moving your field forward.
Action Plan
- Identify Your Foundation: What’s your current core skill? Write it down.
- Choose Your Next Experiment: Pick one new skill to explore in the next 3 months. Start small—a course, a book, or a project.
- Find Opportunities for Integration: How can this new skill enhance your existing work? Think about small ways to combine them.
My journey from epidemiology to AI, bioinformatics, genetics, and LLMs wasn’t linear—but it was transformative. By embracing new skills and integrating them into my work, I found a niche that feels uniquely mine. And you can do the same.
The world doesn’t need another hyper-specialist. It craves modern specialists with their feet grounded in a specialized area and tentacles reaching into adjacent fields. These are the individuals who see the bigger picture, connect the dots, and create something truly unique.
Skill stacking isn’t a quick fix—it’s a journey. With every skill you add, you move closer to building a career that is not only uniquely yours but also profoundly impactful in ways only you can achieve.