Spend the initial points on stuff that will keep you alive, like mining, planting, harvesting, carpentry, etc.
In a similar way, mining and carpentry can be trained as well just by doing it.
The point is you don't really want to have a dwarf sitting in a mechanic's workshop making your first 20 or so mechanisms for traps or drawbridges. But,
as with any embark setting, it is not necessary, but it does make life easier.
Mining, however, is easily trained superbly with some soil. The others (grower, carpenter, mason) are pretty much mandatory and should already have someone proficient in it, unless you really want to make life hard for yourself.
Mechanics is one of the more optional skills, and having a doc is good since you *might* not get a fully competent doc that's better than an embarked doc albeit he'll be rusty. Thus, these two are the ones that I'd recommend out of the optional skill sets. I assume Tim agrees that there are certain skills that are almost necessary for a smooth first year.
