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An expert without basic generalist know-how is just ignorant. An expert in only a single field is single-minded (think "SAP expert":). A generalist without expe
by highfestiva 10y ago
An expert without basic generalist know-how is just ignorant. An expert in only a single field is single-minded (think "SAP expert":). A generalist without expertise is just average.
Do both, as people always have. But start out a generalist to get an understanding of what is good to specialize in. Then pick 2, 3, 4 diverse areas to home in on.
- herghost 10y agoExactly this. I have a current specialism within a fairly specialised field, but this leaves me plenty of bandwidth to move within the field in the short term. My background is loosely related but has given me a set of core skills which I can draw on where I see other people being employed as specialists. I try to maintain my core skills in other areas to the extent that I can commoditise them for my own purposes if needed, even though I have no interest in actually pursuing 'excellence' in them. When I first started down my specialism a number of years ago my expectation was that my previous background would become irrelevant as it felt like quite a big pivot. I was (and remain) surprised at just how wrong I was - having additional background skills that aren't directly related makes me more valuable.
- jventura 10y agoI agree with this! Personally, I have a CS degree and a PhD degree in Natural Language Processing, although my current interests are larger than this. For instance, I work as web developer, do some mobile apps, do data processing and some tutoring, as they traverse a big range of my current interests. Later on you can start mixing things. For instance, I do freelance tutoring on these subjects, I use my webapp backend Python code on an Android app I have, etc..