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Hacker: Jack of All Trades or Master of Some / None

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Re: Hacker: Jack of All Trades or Master of Some / None

#11

Post by cstejerean »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #7

If you're in a startup, you're going to have to wear a lot of hats. Even the hats you aren't wearing, you're responsible for finding somebody else to wear. So to some degree, you're going to have to be a generalist. But do it smart. Use mentors for stuff at the fringes that you don't think you're going to keep doing over and over again, like hiring a lawyer or finding a PR firm. Specialize, but only lightly, in a few…

I don't know. "specializing" in a couple of OO languages and a couple of functional languages sounds like way more work then necessary. You might be familiar with a couple of languages and a master at 1, but to master 4 or more programming languages at the same time is going to be very time consuming.

Re: Hacker: Jack of All Trades or Master of Some / None

#12

Post by as »

imp wrote: post #9

Marc Andreessen has talked about this and mentions a quote from Scott Adams ( http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/10/the-pmarca-guid.html ): "If you want an average successful life, it doesn't take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths: Become the best at one specific thing. Become very good (top 25%) at two or mor…

I thought that was Scott Adams.

The advice is sound because it circumvents a hazard of trying to become a 'generalist' - Most make the mistake of thinking the formula for Renaissance Man is 'learn everything'. I think it's more accurately to spend 60-80% of your time going deep on 2-4 specializations (the more diverse the fewer) while spending 40-20% of the time getting a broad overview of anything else that interests you. Do for x years, choose new specializations, rinse & repeat.

Re: Hacker: Jack of All Trades or Master of Some / None

#13

Post by DanielBMarkham »

cstejerean wrote: post #11
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #7

If you're in a startup, you're going to have to wear a lot of hats. Even the hats you aren't wearing, you're responsible for finding somebody else to wear. So to some degree, you're going to have to be a generalist. But do it smart. Use mentors for stuff at the fringes that you don't think you're going to keep doing over and over again, like hiring a lawyer or finding a PR firm. Specialize, but only lightly, in a few…

I don't know. "specializing" in a couple of OO languages and a couple of functional languages sounds like way more work then necessary. You might be familiar with a couple of languages and a master at 1, but to master 4 or more programming languages at the same time is going to be very time consuming.

Yeah this isn't something where a brute force attack is going to work. One of these a year, or one every six months, should be doable for most people. But definitely don't try the whole shebang at once.

And I wouldn't look at it as work. More like nerd-traveling: you get to see a lot of neat and unusual things, and when you're done, you appreciate home a lot better and have a better perspective on things. Having said that, I'd be sure you solve a few non-trivial problems. Traveling is no fun if you just take pictures and don't get out and participate.

In general, if you haven't tried a new way of making solutions in the last five years or more, you're sucking wind in this biz. That's advice just about _keeping up_, getting ahead is an even tougher game.

Re: Hacker: Jack of All Trades or Master of Some / None

#14

Post by imp »

as wrote: post #12
imp wrote: post #9

Marc Andreessen has talked about this and mentions a quote from Scott Adams ( http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/10/the-pmarca-guid.html ): "If you want an average successful life, it doesn't take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths: Become the best at one specific thing. Become very good (top 25%) at two or mor…

I thought that was Scott Adams. The advice is sound because it circumvents a hazard of trying to become a 'generalist' - Most make the mistake of thinking the formula for Renaissance Man is 'learn everything'. I think it's more accurately to spend 60-80% of your time going deep on 2-4 specializations (the more diverse the fewer) while spending 40-20% of the time getting a broad overview of anything else that interest…

Yeah the quote is by Adams, but I found it through pmarca so I linked to that article instead.

Re: Hacker: Jack of All Trades or Master of Some / None

#16

Post by cstejerean »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #13
cstejerean wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. "specializing" in a couple of OO languages and a couple of functional languages sounds like way more work then necessary. You might be familiar with a couple of languages and a master at 1, but to master 4 or more programming languages at the same time is going to be very time consuming.

Yeah this isn't something where a brute force attack is going to work. One of these a year, or one every six months, should be doable for most people. But definitely don't try the whole shebang at once. And I wouldn't look at it as work. More like nerd-traveling: you get to see a lot of neat and unusual things, and when you're done, you appreciate home a lot better and have a better perspective on things. Having said…

Well, a language a year is really far off from mastering 4 languages or so. I have used a handful of languages over the past 4 years and while I can say that I mastered them fairly well when I was using each one individually I can no longer claim mastery of all. The truth is that you get accustomed to a new language, a new way of thinking and you quickly forget how to even do basic things in the other languages you once mastered.

Re: Hacker: Jack of All Trades or Master of Some / None

#17

Post by DanielBMarkham »

cstejerean wrote: post #16
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah this isn't something where a brute force attack is going to work. One of these a year, or one every six months, should be doable for most people. But definitely don't try the whole shebang at once. And I wouldn't look at it as work. More like nerd-traveling: you get to see a lot of neat and unusual things, and when you're done, you appreciate home a lot better and have a better perspective on things. Having said…

Well, a language a year is really far off from mastering 4 languages or so. I have used a handful of languages over the past 4 years and while I can say that I mastered them fairly well when I was using each one individually I can no longer claim mastery of all. The truth is that you get accustomed to a new language, a new way of thinking and you quickly forget how to even do basic things in the other languages you o…

Ah yes, the time of pain -- the time when you're back in a language you did a while back and you just know it's going to hurt for a while until your brain gets re-tuned.

I think C++, for me, is the hardest to re-tune to. There's just so much stuff going on. And it's one of those languages where the code constructs themselves can lead to a lot of crazy complexity. Was that a multiple inheritance and a virtual base class, or just an interface? Do I have any friends? If not, do my parents have any friends? Are my operators overloaded? Is this a volatile method? If so, better stand back!

I'm not saying to code like this, but C++ stuff, even when written well, can just get gnarly as heck. You enter this entire zone and mindset when you're there, at least I do. Some other languages, like Java, are not that tough to come back to.

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