Most folks are familiar with the saying: "A jack of all trades is a master of none".
They might not be familiar with the complete saying:
"A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one."
What Is a Wildcard Person?
91–100 of 278 posts
Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?
#92This 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…
My personal experience is being in product management. This is where you can really show your divergent thinking. It has the most variance and so many rubbish product managers!
Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?
#93This 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…
> Furthermore, Wildcards thrive with new tasks and suffer from repetitive ones. They also have a hard time staying outwardly organized
I got to this line before realising they might just be renaming ADHD.
Hell I'll take it though, "Wildcard" added to the resume. Bring me an interesting business model, pay me enough to cover my bills. What do you need doing?
If I don't know how to now, I will next week.
Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is this simply an apriori argument? Do you have any evidence to back up your claim beyond your reasoning? I don't find it very persuasive, and based on my own experiences being a generalist for the majority of my career, I can say it certainly doesn't apply to me. My compensation is >$500k a year and I've been a software engineer since 2010.
What search terms would you recommend a generalist plug in to indeed.com to maximize their chances of getting hired at a competitive salary? Remember, they are a generalist, so specific languages, frameworks, and platforms don't count; they won't be more experienced in any of those than competing applicants, by their nature.
We generalists find work through our network of contacts. People we've worked with previously reach out to us when their current company needs a person like us. In 20+ years as a generalist, I've never been without work.
Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?
#95Now for the real challenge: Finding someone who doesn’t believe their that person
Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?
#96Hmmm. Might make this my new self appointed title. Though I’m not giving up “Engineering Jester” which I lobbied for years to have and finally got.
Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?
#9717 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,…
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Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?
#98It you’re one of these people take a break! You’re gonna burn out. You’re going to do more valuable work if you don’t. Sincerely, very tired person who recognizes myself in the article.
Recovering burnt out wildcard here.
It’s the walking the thin line between doom and success (I use that term loosely)
Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?
#9917 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,…
I'd be interested in seeing if other wildcard types actually care about this? Beyond living well of course, need cash for that.
My drive is dopamine, not money. As long as I'm fed and not in debt I couldn't give a rat's tail how much I'm earning. I'd take a hefty pay cut to jump on a "hell yes" project.
Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?
#100Great article, reminds me of someone I know. One quibble, > If your Wildcard is a Product Manager, their team will ship feature-complete products on time, but without the neatly organized armada of JIRA tickets or burn-down charts you wished to see. The friction of keeping things organized is less stimulating than the instant feedback of just doing the work. “Just doing the work” is the point. The fact that the work…
Me. I ask myself is it a good thing or a bad thing. Good thing: shit gets done Bad thing: every other person I work with is not a wildcard and really works well under well designed, product management/software processes. If I could invent anything, it would be a disassociative state where I could just download brain ideas (completed)
I think your experience is common (it certainly resonates with me) so I’m certainly not trying to contradict you when I say that I think there exist tools to help with the problem you mention - but JIRA is not one of them.
These days, I work on the basis that managing the backlog is actually the management problem that needs solving. With an appropriate tool (I like ProductBoard), I can group together related issues, put my notes on them, and assign them to another developer. That helps them keep the blue light on too.
Most so-called product management tools seem to think that a bunch of cards on a kanban board is all we need. But if the problem was that easy, nobody would have a problem.