What Is a Wildcard Person? • Hacker News Board

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#31

Post by synu » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 7:04 AM UTC

dax77 wrote: post #15

This is targeted at a would-be wildcard manager, but for those of you who identify this way, how do you describe this skillset? I’m a combination product manager, data engineer, strategy consultant, and UX/UI designer. While everyone I’ve ever worked with sees that I really am capable across those roles in time, it’s been challenging to convey the breadth of expertise to a hiring manager, without seeming quite arroga…

You can describe yourself as open to help wherever you can, and then give diverse real examples.

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#32

Post by thaumaturgy » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 7:05 AM UTC

17 years ago, there was a popular essay about this sort of person, and the label at the time was "Free Electron": https://randsinrepose.com/archives/free-electron/

Before that, they were known as "generalists", autodidacts, polymaths, etc.

The thing is that pretty much any clever person that's easily invested in novel things can become one of these people, so this label isn't reserved for people who are generalists, it is reserved for people who are not specialists.

If you care about things like income and career progression, do not let yourself become one of these people. They aren't valued, and it doesn't take a lot of staring at job postings or talking to hiring managers to figure out why.

Well-run organizations -- that is, organizations that can afford to pay good money for talent -- have clearly defined roles for people, and need only a few generalists to handle the nitty-gritties of cross-department communications and management.

The organizations that most need generalists are the ones that are constantly struggling to get their crap working right, so they need people who can do a little bit of everything, and as a consequence, they also can't afford to pay such people a lot of money.

It is much easier for a specialist to argue their value than a generalist. I believe there was a frontpage "Ask HN" about this today, probably why this article was posted now.

If however you can decouple happiness and satisfaction from income, and chasing novelties makes you happy, then by all means, keep doing what you love.

You'll just never make the same kind of money as the person that knows Kubernetes backwards and forwards and not much else.

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#33

Post by synu » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 7:06 AM UTC

SpeedilyDamage wrote: post #24

Don’t you kind of have to be this person if you want to found a startup? To me this just describes a founder. If you’re not a founder and you’re putting this kind of energy into your job, I hope you at least have substantial equity, because otherwise you’re being taken advantage of. Know your worth! Also if you think this is you, it probably isn’t. There isn’t an “engineering” wildcard or a “marketing” wildcard, the…

You could still work on diverse things, but do it within your normal work day. I don’t think being a jack of all trades necessitates overwork or being taken advantage of (though it certainly could, but so could a deep expert who doesn’t have a diverse skill set).

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#34

Post by schipplock » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 7:07 AM UTC

  > Hire a Wildcard to Get Sh*t Done

That is the title on their frontpage. Probably made by a Mädchen für alles (literally, "girl for everything").

I don‘t think you want to be the Passepartout of a corporation. It‘s rewarding at first, but the longer you try to fulfill that role, the more you will be exhausted. Imagine being involved in everything a company does. As someone already commented, it‘s a recipe for a burn-out.

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#35

Post by braingenious » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 7:07 AM UTC

BarryMilo wrote: post #18

braingenious wrote: post #9

“What is a person with somewhat varied skills??” I scream as I smash my debit card number into my keyboard to buy a domain for this concept that I’ve just invented. I smile slyly at my partner, a meth pipe.

It's all relative. I'm the only person in any startup I've worked at to work on tasks spanning 5-6 knowledge domains. Most people seem to stick to one thing, maybe two. CEOs know a little about a lot of things too, but they're not actually fighting the fires most of the time, e.g. fixing that bug, writing copy, answering the SOC2 audit questions, etc.

Buddy you’re definitely not the only person that’s good at multiple things that you’ve ever worked with.

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#36

Post by anonyme-honteux » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 7:12 AM UTC

SpeedilyDamage wrote: post #24

Don’t you kind of have to be this person if you want to found a startup? To me this just describes a founder. If you’re not a founder and you’re putting this kind of energy into your job, I hope you at least have substantial equity, because otherwise you’re being taken advantage of. Know your worth! Also if you think this is you, it probably isn’t. There isn’t an “engineering” wildcard or a “marketing” wildcard, the…

I don't think so, many people have a wide array of skills and interests, but none of them is business related.

Are they being taken advantage of? Sure, most people are being taken advantage of, that's the system we live in, it's called capitalism. But in rich countries that often still leaves enough to have a good life.

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#37

Post by braingenious » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 7:15 AM UTC

BarryMilo wrote: post #25

Any other wildcards here finding themselves bored by the strategic shortcomings that come with a lack of understanding of how things work? i.e. when bosses don't understand the breadth of their ignorance? I've been considering becoming a CTO for this very reason but I'm not sure it would solve the problem... ?

Yeah, as my username suggests my name is byron and I’m smarter than anybody on the planet (jenius-level)

I am so glad that others have finally came up with a word to describe my beauty

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#38

Post by still_grokking » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 7:21 AM UTC

Brajeshwar wrote: post #26

You will like this one. Ken Coleman[1] mentioned the term “Intelligent Override” at a Podcast[2] about Mentors and Leadership with Ben Horowitz on Sep 28, 2022 (looks like a re-run). The idea of someone going beyond the norms, systems and processes, rules and regulations to make things work better. Look out for People who can do “Intelligent Override.” Most companies don’t have many people like that. People who can g…

> The idea of someone going beyond the norms, systems and processes, rules and regulations to make things work better.

An INTJ personality.

> Most companies don’t have many people like that.

INTJs are very seldom. ~2% of the general population.

But whether INTJs map well to what was described as "wildcard" I'm not sure. It was more of a ISTP or ESTP type, I guess.

https://www.truity.com/page/16-personality-types-myers-brigg...

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#39

Post by robmerki » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 7:23 AM UTC

kthejoker2 wrote: post #11

As a wildcard person, one thing not mentioned is they need to be complemented by at least one type A, no-nonsense delivery manager who can block their say-yes-to-everything attitude, help them prioritize and focus, and ensure the "boring stuff" like test suites and status reports are flowing. Together this tandem can do truly great things.

This is a superb point. I’m going to add something like that to the article.

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#40

Post by captainkrtek » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 7:24 AM UTC

lokimedes wrote: post #23

This is me, this is how I generate value as a full-blown ADHD case. I wonder if there’s a correlation? To add credibility in a corporate setting I have somehow achieved a fearsome combination of Physics PhD, MBA and 25 years of wildcard software development / entrepreneurship. That, combined, legitimizes why I’m allowed to be the wildcard. How have you others managed to be this deep generalist in a specialist’s world…

I relate to this with my ADHD as well. I work for a certain cloud provider, and made my name by ambulance chasing both on my team and company-wide for interesting problems. Turned debugging complex networking/systems/security/etc. issues, regardless of my day to day role, into my “specialization”. My actual role is still as a software engineer on a team in the networking domain, so it works nicely. Over the years has been a challenge to balance ad-hoc engagements with work/life balance, but last couple years I’ve figured it out nicely.