6 ms·
Ask HN: Better to be pretty good at a few things or really good at one thing?
- eof 15y agoDepends on what you are really good at.
- philipthrasher 15y agoI think this really depends on your goal. Do you want to excel in a particular field? If so, you should pick one thing, and focus on it. Do one thing well. Being a jack of all trades, and master of none is more suitable for managers. I wrote a blog post about being an expert at something, if you're interested: http://philipthrasher.com/2010/04/11/want-to-be-an-expert.html http://philipthrasher.com/2010/04/11/want-to-be-an-expert.ht...
- codeslush 15y agoThis is entirely dependent on what you do and what your goals are. Generally, I think it's better to be really good at one thing. However, this wouldn't hold true in certain roles (think Enterprise Architect, Systems Consultant, ...). In different roles, it can be extremely valuable to have a broad, not necessarily deep, understanding of the various parts in play. What are your objectives?
- trafficlight 15y agoI'm definitely a jack-of-all-trades but a master-of-none. Sometimes I wish I were much better at certain things, but for the most part, I enjoy having a wide range of competencies.
- maxdemarzi 15y agoIf you want to be an entrepreneur you have to be good at as much as you can handle. Not just your technology stack, but marketing, sales, design, finance, recruitment, training, writing, etc. If you want to be an employee, then by all means, be top 1% of whatever technology you want and you'll always be able to find a job.
- kgc 15y agoGeneralists succeed as entrepreneurs (a Stanford study): http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/research/entrep_lazear_generalists.shtml http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/research/entrep_lazear_gene...
- glimcat 15y agoBeing really good at one thing almost always involves being pretty good at a few things.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- petervandijck 15y agoFor an entrepreneur: M-shaped: really good at a few things, and not afraid of many other things that need doing.
- wmboy 15y agoLeonardo da Vinci has shown that it's possible to master more than one thing. (mind you, how many Leonardo da Vinci's are there in the world?)
- waqf 15y agoThe world has easily ten times the population it had in Leonardo's time, and also is probably less than 100% effective at discovering such people. So at a conservative estimate, I'd say there are hundreds.
- md1515 15y agoI feel like I am a jack-of-all trades type of person too. Many people say that is a disadvantage, but I recently read an article on entrepreneur.com about some famous guru saying a CEO of a startup needs to be good at a lot of things instead of great at one thing. Made me feel a lot better....