I think it depends on the job - the more advanced, sophisticated, the more specialisation; the less advanced, the more generalisation eg the neurosurgeon doesn'

I think it depends on the job - the more advanced, sophisticated, the more specialisation; the less advanced, the more generalisation eg the neurosurgeon doesn't get asked to also do heart surgery - the barrier to jump from one to the other is too high, unlike painting a shed, cleaning a pool, mowing grass, carrying furniture. Tech has kernel and compiler experts who I think generally do little else, vs devops who are more generalist, have a more superficial knowledge of numerous technologies which often change. As I get older I feel my value as a generalist decreases when I look at the incredible depth of knowledge specialists have accrued over the years, and my knowledge is a year old and soon to expire - the eternal newbie, a dabbler, a dilettante. There's is some element of lack of identity in that, but it's too late at night to play Freud. This wasn't a bother when I was younger, and as sibling comments say generalists are in need, but I think that's mostly only in certain areas such as devops, sre, some dev. Personally, I'd rather be an expert, alas I'm not. I wonder if there's a connection to moving into management - with age, generalists are less able to jump around to new tech, so move into management? You certainly seem correct when looking at other roles such as AI, or data scientist - I worked alongside a computer vision, AR chap, and there was no way I was going to be jumping into that to help out. As technologies advance, there will be some abstraction, but increasing depth will require more specialists.