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Ask HN: Do you regret being a generalist?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you regret being a generalist?

#91

Post by zoom6628 »

o-o- wrote: post #88

Looking around me (BigCorp), the people that managers value the most are the generalists. Teams are built around these key persons, and extra care is taken to make them comfortable. The reason? You can throw any problem at these people, and they will solve it without asking for a dedicated DNS guy, an extra front-ender or an LDAP guy. They can foresee obstacles and point out pitfalls around any technology. Not becaus…

Well put.

And it’s ok to have broad knowledge. Remember the “T”. Go deep on what interests you that way and keep your mind open.

Generalists do well in other career streams like product management, sales consulting, where broad range of knowledge needed so don’t fret. You are at the start of your career so make the most of the time to explore, try, learn, and yes maybe fail a few times, and you will more than likely find your niche(or it will find you).

Best wishes for a long and interesting career!

Re: Ask HN: Do you regret being a generalist?

#93

Post by RHSman2 »

perilunar wrote: post #65
eimrine wrote: post #5

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

You're quoting someone — you should use quote marks and add an attribution.

Should is a banned word

Re: Ask HN: Do you regret being a generalist?

#94

Post by ggambetta »

mfrw wrote: post #23
eimrine wrote: post #5

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

Thank you for making me laugh on my more than crappy day :) > plan an invasion Why would one need this ? [hahahaha]

I actually, for real, have a slide deck about starting an empire. I did it as a joke for my friends, it's formatted and phrased as a startup pitch deck, but an invasion is required for one of the milestones. So you never know!

Re: Ask HN: Do you regret being a generalist?

#95

Post by cerved »

micahbule wrote: post #86
woutr_be wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have noticed that when interviewing, the more specialized technical people often look down on full stack engineers, whereas managers are more excited about it. I consider myself full stack, but in my last role I presented myself as a frontend engineer, with some backend experience. Eventually this role just kinda expanded into both frontend and backend. Now that I do contract work, I present myself as whatever they…

Specialized technical people often look down on supposed fullstack engineers because specialized technical people value mastery over familiarity -- something a lot of FS engineers really try to be exaggeratingly proud of. While familiarity with your stack is great for cross-cutting concerns, mastery is what truly builds great software, not to mention in a timely manner. Managers are excited about FS engineers simply…

The idea that you can't be great at very different things isn't confined to software engineering. I think it's because most people can only master one thing so they can't imagine other people working differently

Re: Ask HN: Do you regret being a generalist?

#96

Post by pleb_nz »

jameshush wrote: post #62

Pro tip: you're not a generalist. A big chunk of specializing is how you package/market yourself. I consider myself a "full stack employee". I've done backend, frontend, hosted live events, some sales, marketing, a dash of HR, pretty much everything. Do I write that on my LinkedIn? Heck no. A year or so ago I looked at all the experience I had, saw I had a through-line story of how I've worked on video projects over…

Centering a div == specialist /s

Re: Ask HN: Do you regret being a generalist?

#97

Post by RHSman2 »

I’ve worked with the most brilliant guy who was tremendously autistic (lives at home with parents at 30) He was a specialist. He couldn’t understand the big things but boy could he do the small things.

This very much held him back and he even said ‘treat me like a robot as I can’t put together complexities’

So, generally speaking, we are generalists. Your job my force you down a specialism and I have seen many many miserable (well paid) SAP HR consultants

Re: Ask HN: Do you regret being a generalist?

#98

Post by CaptArmchair »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #73

Generalists may always have a job in software, but specialists often have the interesting jobs. Everyone starts out as a generalist. Like you, I am always interested in vastly more things than I have time to properly grok. Whether or not to be a generalist is a question of ambition and also where you are in your career. Life outcomes for generalists cluster around the median, outcomes for specialists have much higher…

I disagree with your premise. As a generalist, I have held some pretty interesting jobs over the past almost 20 years. What you know isn't what matters. How you decide to leverage your knowledge is where you make a difference.

As a generalist, I found the ability to zoom out to the bigger picture and connect dots to be invaluable. More then anything else, learning to communicate is paramount.

That doesn't detract from what a specialist with deep technical expertise does. I know some who are great communicators as well. It's just that discussions happen on a different plane.

Re: Ask HN: Do you regret being a generalist?

#99

Post by Kaibeezy »

paulcole wrote: post #8
eimrine wrote: post #5

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

On the flip side, that’s a 50-year old quote and maybe times have changed?

I’d add:

  - write an effective contract and be able to tell if one that someone hands you is reasonable
  - be able to explain to people you feel some responsibility towards how to install and operate a VPN
  - have a grip on basic statistics and economics
  - cook a tasty meal from grains, legumes, vegetables and/or fungi

Re: Ask HN: Do you regret being a generalist?

#100

Post by otikik »

jameshush wrote: post #62

Pro tip: you're not a generalist. A big chunk of specializing is how you package/market yourself. I consider myself a "full stack employee". I've done backend, frontend, hosted live events, some sales, marketing, a dash of HR, pretty much everything. Do I write that on my LinkedIn? Heck no. A year or so ago I looked at all the experience I had, saw I had a through-line story of how I've worked on video projects over…

We Share a similar Point and we hide it in a similar way.

I also hide my Excel skills extremely well, they are to be deployed only on emergencies.

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