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What Is a Wildcard Person?

wildcardpeople.com

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Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#101

Post by travisgriggs »

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... ?

This has been my frustration in my career. I end up with a “manager” attached to me. To the corporate side, it looks like he’s Batman and I’m Robin. But really only if Batman were having constant stage “asides” where he plugged Robin for strategy, to explain things so he could reshape them, seek direction advice, etc.

At 52, I tire of it. I’ve toyed with feeling out the switch to CTO/management, but I think I’d just suck at it (low self esteem?) and/or go crazy. I like being a “wildcard” because I like getting stuff done. As near as I can tell, management types thrive in a culture akin to front seat passengers that constantly network with each other about what their drivers get done, giving mostly pointless advice/direction, and taking credit for where the cars end up. Unless it doesn’t end well, then it’s the drivers fault. They live in a world where they watch others get stuff done.

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#102

Post by b800h »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #32

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,…

I disagree, with caveats. There's the idea of a "T-shaped person": A little bit of knowledge in a lot of things, with deep knowledge in one area. This is what organisations tend to hire for.

The wildcard person eventually develops into a shape more akin to the differencing mark seen in heraldry for first-born sons. Much broader and deeper general knowledge, and several areas of very deep knowledge.

As one of these people, I can stand by the fact that, yes, you will be sought out by organisations which are struggling with serious challenges, but that does not mean that they can't pay good money. They can frequently pay very good rates, if you're working as a consultant, because you'll be paid for out of CapEx.

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#103

Post by thaumaturgy »

pards wrote: post #94
thaumaturgy wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Exactly: if you're talking to people who already understand your value, then you don't have to pitch your value to them. Specialists also benefit from this, with the additional benefit that they can look for employment outside their network.

There are some survivorship biases responding in this thread, but the fact remains that employment opportunities favor specialists over generalists, all other things being equal.

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#104

Post by [deleted] »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #82
beebmam wrote: post #72

Earlier 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.

[deleted]

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#105

Post by RHSman2 »

doctor_eval wrote: post #100
RHSman2 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

I am the management

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#107

Post by neilv »

Jensson wrote: post #81
neilv wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think your argument might be interpreted as encouraging Leetcode interviews, which I'd disagree with.

The algorithms they ask for in interviews are so low level that any programmer could learn them in a couple of months, that is generalist level and not specialist level. Not all developers who pass them are generalists, but the people who don't aren't generalist developers. They could be generalist problems solvers who dabbles a bit in programming, but they aren't generalist developers.

HN has been over the Leetcode interview discussion a thousand times, and it's more complicated than a sentence can argue, so we can agree to disagree on Leetcode interviews. :)

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#108

Post by asabla »

lokimedes wrote: post #55
thaumaturgy wrote: post #32

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 works just fine for me. Even the best operations wants to stay competitive, and I have yet to meet a CEO with less ambitions than the org can handle. That is where we Wildcards thrive. I build the departments we don’t have, make the prototypes the developers says are impossible (or unattractive technically), prove the business models that yikes the existing sales organizations as they are misaligned with common pr…

I've found my self in this position as well.

So far I've managed to identify a few key points which has served me well so far.

- Being able to produce results even when there is a lot of unknowns.

- Fairly good communication skills across several departments. People usually listens to what you say.

- Being known as goto kind of person. If it's about getting the gist about something or direct help of implementing any kind of service/api.

And lastly the main point of being Sellable: Being a generalist has put you into a lot of scenarios were others have no previous knowledge about. And thus making you easier to act as an early asset in assignments.

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#109

Post by quartesixte »

1123581321 wrote: post #42
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 see what you are saying. I think that some people are good at trying everything when they are alone or the one in full control, and others are good at operating dynamically within a larger organization or a situation not of their choosing. So I think we need two terms and I think wildcard/free electron applies more to the person operating inside an organization or community.

Right. The wildcard/free electron I have observed and worked closely with the most has an almost physical allergic reaction to power and control. They throw themselves headfirst into fires and spit out solutions that work and endure, but are horrified of holding any official title beyond their nebulous, job descriptionless role. Receiving public credit also makes them recoil in horror — so long as 1) the CEO duly compensates them for their effort and time (this person has a ruthlessly mercenary personality…funnily enough) and 2) the solution they shipped works, they are happy.

But one thing that I think a lot of what the article missed, and perhaps what demarcates the good from the just okay wildcards, is that the one of the overall goals for any task is to find a good specialist/maintainer who will continue on and refine the min-viable into something sustainable long term. Those who care not to firefight, but to do the work of tending the garden while they go on to fight the next fire.

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#110

Post by [deleted] »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #82
beebmam wrote: post #72

Earlier 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.

[deleted]
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