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I have been a generalist my whole life, and have struggled significantly to translate this into a meaningful career. I have thrived in interdisciplinary roles,

I have been a generalist my whole life, and have struggled significantly to translate this into a meaningful career. I have thrived in interdisciplinary roles, but have always found myself carving them out once I have forced my way through the door in a more specialized role. Is it simply a disconnect between the hiring process and these sorts of skillsets that is causing this issue, or something else? I worked at a 3D printing startup and found myself liasing between hardware, software, and materials teams (and sales... and marketing... and...) and was the happiest I have been professionally at that time. I don't know where to look for roles similar to this. Do they even exist? Any advice?

vsskanth 6y ago
Have you tried looking for Project/Program manager roles, maybe even DoD ? They usually are a good fit for people with your skills
- albatross 6y ago
  To some degree, yes. However, I've found there is often a chicken/egg problem of needing experience in the role to be hired for it. That said, it's been a few years since I looked at these,so maybe it's time to reevaluate and maybe pursue a certification of some sort.
  - vsskanth 6y ago
    A friend of mine had the same problem. Got hired into a smaller startup that was willing to take a chance on him and is now a program director
    - albatross 6y ago
      I'll adjust my search parameters. Thanks for the advice!
BossingAround 6y ago
> Is it simply a disconnect between the hiring process and these sorts of skillsets that is causing this issue, or something else? I feel like it's a practicality. I like doing front-end and I can hack together pretty much anything you can design in Photoshop (did some side jobs to test exactly this hypothesis), but my company would rather pay for a specialist in front-end to provide higher quality output, and have me do my expertise where I also provide more overall value. Generalists are great if the company cannot afford more people (startups, typically, love generalists), or if there's a time pressure and there are no other resources. Generalists are also great in some specific positions, like consultants, possibly (solution) architects, and one-man freelancers for small projects. Not so much for permanent positions at your Fortune 500 companies.

vsskanth 6y ago

Have you tried looking for Project/Program manager roles, maybe even DoD ? They usually are a good fit for people with your skills

albatross 6y ago
To some degree, yes. However, I've found there is often a chicken/egg problem of needing experience in the role to be hired for it. That said, it's been a few years since I looked at these,so maybe it's time to reevaluate and maybe pursue a certification of some sort.
- vsskanth 6y ago
  A friend of mine had the same problem. Got hired into a smaller startup that was willing to take a chance on him and is now a program director
  - albatross 6y ago
    I'll adjust my search parameters. Thanks for the advice!

BossingAround 6y ago

> Is it simply a disconnect between the hiring process and these sorts of skillsets that is causing this issue, or something else? I feel like it's a practicality. I like doing front-end and I can hack together pretty much anything you can design in Photoshop (did some side jobs to test exactly this hypothesis), but my company would rather pay for a specialist in front-end to provide higher quality output, and have me do my expertise where I also provide more overall value. Generalists are great if the company cannot afford more people (startups, typically, love generalists), or if there's a time pressure and there are no other resources. Generalists are also great in some specific positions, like consultants, possibly (solution) architects, and one-man freelancers for small projects. Not so much for permanent positions at your Fortune 500 companies.