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Ask HN: What job can a “jack of all trades” look for?

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Re: Ask HN: What job can a “jack of all trades” look for?

#71

Post by ScottFree »

dadoge wrote: post #57
robviren wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You pretty much have to job hop. Look for opportunities to help sales with customer conversations. if you can be a bridge from engineering to the business then you will have a lot of value in the position. Communication is critical. You have to be able to make people feel your solution is not best. Peoole do not care what is technically best. They want to feel something is the best. And that is a hard but to crack be…

Disagree, many companies have a way for engineers to pivot into product. The hardest part is having a frank conversation with your manager. I’ve seen many engineers become PMs within the same company

Do they, though? Do they have formal management training for engineers who want to become product managers?

Re: Ask HN: What job can a “jack of all trades” look for?

#72

Post by BossingAround »

Dansvidania wrote: post #17

I have a pretty similar story: Worked in enterprise for the last few years and recently I ended up leading and coordinating a "scrum" team in a technical lead position. I do not spend as much time as I would like contributing to the codebase (the devs in my team do often a better job of it), but rather tend to act as a solution architect. I often bootstrap projects, do a lot of research and development, build proof o…

> but I feel like I have lowered my value in the general market

Seeing the quality and technical abilities of scrum masters I've worked with, that statement is probably true.

That said, if you can demonstrate that you're a good scrum master that is actually technically skilled, I'd pay your weight in gold for you... Monthly...

Re: Ask HN: What job can a “jack of all trades” look for?

#73

Post by exterrestrial »

akcreek wrote: post #68
Roritharr wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, how did you acquire the first business and keep yourself afloat before it took off?

I was in college at the time, so student loans kept me afloat. I was definitely not using that money correctly, but I believed I was using it wisely. The first acquisition was funded by a loan from my parents for $44K. That was a large sum for them, but they believed they would see it again and they have always wanted to help my siblings and I in any way possible. It turned out to be one of their better investments a…

>The first acquisition was funded by a loan from my parents for $44K.

Thanks for being honest. It might help to put this in the first comment though.

Re: Ask HN: What job can a “jack of all trades” look for?

#75

Post by s_y_n_t_a_x »

sgt wrote: post #65
WA wrote: post #31

Make your own software product. Requires to be a jack of all trades. Coding, marketing, writing, customer support, design. Because it's only you, you don't have to feel like "being the smartest person in the room". Downside: Takes quite some time to take off.

Additional downside: may never take off and leave you financially ruined.

Find an easy job you like and work on your project on your spare time. That's what I do.

Re: Ask HN: What job can a “jack of all trades” look for?

#76

Post by enraged_camel »

sgt wrote: post #65
WA wrote: post #31

Make your own software product. Requires to be a jack of all trades. Coding, marketing, writing, customer support, design. Because it's only you, you don't have to feel like "being the smartest person in the room". Downside: Takes quite some time to take off.

Additional downside: may never take off and leave you financially ruined.

It won’t leave you financially ruined if you treat it as a side hustle and keep your main job as a source of income until you get customers.

And if it never takes off, so what? At least it will be a great learning and self-growth opportunity, which is exactly what the OP is asking for anyway.

Re: Ask HN: What job can a “jack of all trades” look for?

#77

Post by zelos »

gshdg wrote: post #2

Smaller companies need generalists more than big ones do. You’re likely best off in early stage startups, small agencies, or your own consulting business. There are also incubators and such who can use that skillset to help bootstrap multiple startups per year.

I’ve worked on plenty of teams that are mostly generalists at larger companies. You need a few specialists, then there’s always demand for people who know a little about a lot of subjects, so they can just pick up tasks as needed.

Edit: although the OP is broader in experience than most.

Re: Ask HN: What job can a “jack of all trades” look for?

#79

Post by czbond »

BossingAround wrote: post #67
duder_3569 wrote: post #55

Become a Consultant at Red Hat! Wonderful, wonderful place to be a "jack of all trades," while also allowing you the opportunity to carve out a niche if you find you do become passionate about just one thing. In addition to working in DevOps roles, there are a range of consulting opportunities that are diverse, which adds another layer of keeping things interesting. You can do work with small companies, large compani…

Consultants seem to have a very chaotic work life, traveling pretty much non-stop, being thrown to clients with no deep knowledge (in the beginning at least) and the sink-or-swim mindset... If that's what OP (or anyone else) is looking for, consulting career might be awesome for bootstrapping one's skill and career. Most consultants I've seen have switched positions after a year and a half or less. There are some who…

I agree with you and this fits enough people. Many (myself included) thrive off constant action and change, steep risk and learning curves.

I started in management consulting - and even after doing startups for years - find startups too mind-numbingly boring. (But that may be me) If I'm on an internal teams - I have to work on many things at once to keep sane.

For me, management consulting (using my CompSci as a starting point) it gave me skillsets others don't replicate easily.

Re: Ask HN: What job can a “jack of all trades” look for?

#80

Post by jstummbillig »

sgt wrote: post #65
WA wrote: post #31

Make your own software product. Requires to be a jack of all trades. Coding, marketing, writing, customer support, design. Because it's only you, you don't have to feel like "being the smartest person in the room". Downside: Takes quite some time to take off.

Additional downside: may never take off and leave you financially ruined.

The former, sure, the later: Not really. Avoid insane risks and keep your skills in shape. You can always call it quits and join the machine again.
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