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Generalist can be a specialization in itself. Imagine someone that can do a bit of front-end, backend, infra, design, would be a specialist in bootstrapping a s

by tyurok 4y ago

Generalist can be a specialization in itself. Imagine someone that can do a bit of front-end, backend, infra, design, would be a specialist in bootstrapping a startup. Don't get too attached to market/industry defined roles. Another way to raise rates is to take risks (like deadlines, promises) but every person had their own risk profile.

Cthulhu_ 4y ago
Or change the language. Instead of 'generalist', sell yourself as a senior developer, architect, lead developer, etc. Nobody asks "what programming language are you an architect in", because the job is supposed to be much broader than that.
- tyurok 4y ago
  Yeah, poliglots are difficult to find as well, maybe not as in actual difficulty to be but more of a preference for a subset of techs.
leetrout 4y ago
Excluding design this is me and what I enjoy doing. I named my operation "engine ignite" because I like helping startups start. I LOVE getting folks leveled up on team process and procedure to support SOC2 and such.
- tyurok 4y ago
  It's a fairly rare set of skills. People in these positive usually are bad in most of them and it becomes harder to ramp up the team later (mentoring, quality).
throwaway74829 4y ago
Have you gone down this route? I think the biggest issue deep generalists fall into is that they can be above average in the entire stack, but not exceptional enough to make the cut for a specialized role in any single thing (i.e the vast majority of publicly advertised roles). Going down “specialized in boot-strapping startups” route is an interesting remedy. I would imagine the only way to find these opportunities is word of mouth.
- tyurok 4y ago
  I didn't go through, but have seen quite a few. It's indeed a less advertised position since it might be more common in smaller companies (less money/reach) and it might be a founding opportunity (less pay, higher risk), so it goes under the radar compared to very specialized positions.
JoshTriplett 4y ago
> Generalist can be a specialization in itself. This is absolutely true. Someone who is comfortable chasing down a problem no matter where it leads, and learning what's necessary to handle it if they don't already know, can provide a great deal of value. Many clients don't need a specialist in X, they need someone who can do X, Y, Z, A, B, C, and oh we didn't realize we needed D and E but we're glad you're up for that too.

by tyurok 4y ago

Cthulhu_ 4y ago

Or change the language. Instead of 'generalist', sell yourself as a senior developer, architect, lead developer, etc. Nobody asks "what programming language are you an architect in", because the job is supposed to be much broader than that.

tyurok 4y ago
Yeah, poliglots are difficult to find as well, maybe not as in actual difficulty to be but more of a preference for a subset of techs.

leetrout 4y ago

Excluding design this is me and what I enjoy doing. I named my operation "engine ignite" because I like helping startups start. I LOVE getting folks leveled up on team process and procedure to support SOC2 and such.

tyurok 4y ago
It's a fairly rare set of skills. People in these positive usually are bad in most of them and it becomes harder to ramp up the team later (mentoring, quality).

throwaway74829 4y ago

Have you gone down this route? I think the biggest issue deep generalists fall into is that they can be above average in the entire stack, but not exceptional enough to make the cut for a specialized role in any single thing (i.e the vast majority of publicly advertised roles). Going down “specialized in boot-strapping startups” route is an interesting remedy. I would imagine the only way to find these opportunities is word of mouth.

tyurok 4y ago
I didn't go through, but have seen quite a few. It's indeed a less advertised position since it might be more common in smaller companies (less money/reach) and it might be a founding opportunity (less pay, higher risk), so it goes under the radar compared to very specialized positions.

JoshTriplett 4y ago

> Generalist can be a specialization in itself. This is absolutely true. Someone who is comfortable chasing down a problem no matter where it leads, and learning what's necessary to handle it if they don't already know, can provide a great deal of value. Many clients don't need a specialist in X, they need someone who can do X, Y, Z, A, B, C, and oh we didn't realize we needed D and E but we're glad you're up for that too.