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Why the world needs deep generalists, not specialists

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Re: Why the world needs deep generalists, not specialists

#41

Post by em-bee »

Amazonerh wrote: post #8
andyidsinga wrote: post #7

I like to think of myself as somewhat of a polymath in tech - enjoying and doing decent work in a variety of types of software at all different layers. I also enjoy other things that I would put myself squarely in the hobbyist side: small engine repair, metal and woodwork, plumbing etc. So how would one determine if someone has 3 "top 1%" skill level (per the article)? I suppose the answer is in 2nd half of the artic…

"Polymath in tech" is by nature not in line with the article IMHO. Let's assume you are a tech expert, now try to be a master chef or PhD in sociology or Olympic gold medalist in rowing etc I think the article mentions people who are able to master at complete different fields.

you are right, but there is a paralell. when it comes to hiring programmers i prefer people who are good at programming in general and at least familiar with two or more languages. because those who are very good at only one language and have never touched another will have a hard time learning a second language, and, will also have a hard time getting to expert level because they will miss out on that additional pwrspective that other ways of doing things provide.

same goes for knowing multiple web frameworks like angular and react for example, to be even more specific.

greetings, eMBee.

Re: Why the world needs deep generalists, not specialists

#42

Post by em-bee »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #25
mitchtbaum wrote: post #9

I've never seen a school that teaches generalizing skills. To find one, that's a mystery.

It's limited to the general concept of the computer industry, but I did a degree in IT and several professors saw the focus as being "integration". You basically did a CS minor, plus classes in electronics, signals, web dev, databases, operating systems, etc. Projects have a heavy emphasis on communication, project management, etc. My peers ended up very quickly becoming programmers along-side CS grads, managers of v…

in my university, we were allowed to pick any minor with a computer science major because they believed that computer science can be applied to everywhere.

this was in the 90s when many universities required.that compter science be paired with math or a few other selected fields.

turning that into a CS minor with the same sentiment would be an evolution of that approach.

greetings, eMBee.

Re: Why the world needs deep generalists, not specialists

#43

Post by abootstrapper »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #33

Being a generalist by nature makes it very hard to build a successful career. I'm a generalist and what I see is the society is built around specialization.

IMOP the best profession for a generalist is entrepreneurship. Not that entrepreneurship doesn't entail its own hardships though.

Re: Why the world needs deep generalists, not specialists

#45

Post by TallGuyShort »

em-bee wrote: post #42
TallGuyShort wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's limited to the general concept of the computer industry, but I did a degree in IT and several professors saw the focus as being "integration". You basically did a CS minor, plus classes in electronics, signals, web dev, databases, operating systems, etc. Projects have a heavy emphasis on communication, project management, etc. My peers ended up very quickly becoming programmers along-side CS grads, managers of v…

in my university, we were allowed to pick any minor with a computer science major because they believed that computer science can be applied to everywhere. this was in the 90s when many universities required.that compter science be paired with math or a few other selected fields. turning that into a CS minor with the same sentiment would be an evolution of that approach. greetings, eMBee.

A lot of the data science community was pushing statistics minors with some other major (or vice versa) for a while. I know that field is generally a bit over-hyped from an employment perspective to begin with, but I think that makes a lot of sense.

Re: Why the world needs deep generalists, not specialists

#47

Post by qwerty456127 »

abootstrapper wrote: post #43
qwerty456127 wrote: post #33

Being a generalist by nature makes it very hard to build a successful career. I'm a generalist and what I see is the society is built around specialization.

IMOP the best profession for a generalist is entrepreneurship. Not that entrepreneurship doesn't entail its own hardships though.

Perhaps but entrepreneurship sounds quite fearsome for people that neither feel really sociable (and I doubt many generalists do) nor have a serious financial capital they can risk safely.

Re: Why the world needs deep generalists, not specialists

#49

Post by lumost »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #34
nordsieck wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Look, this essay is ridiculous. It starts by citing Aristotle, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Benjamin Franklin, and then delivers silly things like this definition of a "generalist": >> Someone who becomes competent in at least three diverse domains and integrates them into a top 1-percent skill set. If you take this advice and tone it down a lot, it becomes both reasonable and good. From Scott Adam's Career Advice [0]: >…

Thing is, it doesn't seem to pay, at least in the employment market. Employers want specialists, and pay for them. If your CV is two or three distinct things (I don't mean a selection of languages, or front and back end dev here, I mean distinct skills like say programming and accountancy) it's very unlikely to get you a better salary. In fact if you've diverged from a straight specialism throughout your career it's…

on the contrary many job postings advertise for two or more core skills. Searching for any Finance or Advertising software position is likely to turn up something like the following

https://www.spotifyjobs.com/job/senior-ad-tech-engineer-back...

In addition to the standard Backend swe callouts the job desires ad-tech knowledge and advertising business knowledge. I'd be willing to bet they have a strong inclination towards anyone who's in the top 25% of both, but would consider cross-training for a top 1% in either.

As you go up the IC ladder the demand for cross-functional skills rises.

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