One of the most lethal combinations no one talks about enough is the athlete turned software engineer. LETHAL…

While technology is speeding up the learning curve, a great computer programmer has worked on their craft for years.

Time spent coding is NOT time being spent learning strategy, sales, and the operational side of startups and/or large companies.

Well, an athlete who has played a team sport for years and has managed to learn how to code tends to be a built-in emotional intelligence and social skill machine to complement technical skills. They can build a product and be able to sell it.

I can’t overstate how powerful and rare it is to have both of these skill sets.

When you hone your craft in a sport for years you don’t have time to bury yourself in coding languages such as Python or Javascript. It really takes a long time and hard to pick up on the fly. That’s why few athletes can code.

Elite athletes that have managed to become technical programmers have some of the most talented skill sets, are making a lot of money, and are having fun in the process. 

Here’s some examples, take a look for yourself.

• Ex-John Hopkins Basketball Guard Alex Schachne now Co-Founder of Leap

• Ex-College of Southern Nevada Baseball Player Dominyck Bullard now CEO of Athletiverse

• Ex-Washington and Tufts Basketball Forward KJ Garrett now Software Engineer at Google

• Ex-Santa Clara Basketball Guard Matt Jasaitas now technical support engineer at Applitools

• Ex-Santa Clara Cross Country Runner Aditya Mohan now Software Engineer at Oracle

• Ex-UCLA Basketball Center Myles Johnson now engineer at IBM

• Ex-Oklahoma Wide Receiver Obi J. Obialo now Software Engineer at SponsorCX