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Where do the specialists come from? University? Or do certain types of environments tend to produce them? How does that happen?

tristor 4y ago
> Where do the specialists come from? They come from all different walks of life. That's part of what makes hiring specialists difficult. Specialists don't start out that way, they become that way, mostly due to intense focus on a particular area for a long period of time. Some people get that way quickly because they are pre-disposed with passion for a particular area, other people get that way due to their environment needing them to be there and sticking to it. There's consistent way, that I know of, to "create" a specialist. Probably the closest is by rote memorization and drilling from detailed and intensive instruction, which is the method militaries use to staff specialty roles, but quality and capability vary greatly. I don't necessarily classify these folks as "specialists" in the same way as someone who naturally gravitates towards a subfield.
mschuster91 4y ago
That depends. Some come from universities or various types of schools (coding bootcamps, certification program trainings like AWS Certified XYZ, MySQL/Oracle/... DBA, Cisco Certified, Microsoft Partner, you name it). Some drift into specialist roles from generalist jobs (with or without the employer paying for additional training) because they prove to be good enough at a topic no one else cares much about. Some get ordered into it, especially in public service/military where your choice is to obey or get the boot. Of these: - the first group tends to have the greater holistic view about their certification topic and know a ton about best practices, but lack detailed knowledge about dependencies, prerequisites and other experience you only gain during real world experimentation and work. - the second group, the ones I like most, may lack best practices, but their experience makes more than up for that - the third are one hell of an explosive mixture. Either you get a combination of the first two groups (basically, someone with tons of certificates because you're not worth anything in public service without a paper proving your worth, and a lot of experience working in constrained and otherwise troubled environments) which is the best you can get, or you get a serial bullshitter whose best experience is in kissing leadership arses (as said, all that matters in public service is the papers, not knowledge or performance).
cratermoon 4y ago
I'm a specialist in identity and access management – oauth, SAML, SCIM, that sort of thing. How did I get there? In my first job I was tasked with bringing up an organizational directory using x.500 and LDAP. Next job I was asked to help implement what we'd now call a paywall for newspaper's website, where subscribers to the paper got access to additional features. Over the years, more or less every job moved me through stages of knowing more and more about the field.
deleted 4y ago
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tristor 4y ago

> Where do the specialists come from? They come from all different walks of life. That's part of what makes hiring specialists difficult. Specialists don't start out that way, they become that way, mostly due to intense focus on a particular area for a long period of time. Some people get that way quickly because they are pre-disposed with passion for a particular area, other people get that way due to their environment needing them to be there and sticking to it. There's consistent way, that I know of, to "create" a specialist. Probably the closest is by rote memorization and drilling from detailed and intensive instruction, which is the method militaries use to staff specialty roles, but quality and capability vary greatly. I don't necessarily classify these folks as "specialists" in the same way as someone who naturally gravitates towards a subfield.

mschuster91 4y ago

That depends. Some come from universities or various types of schools (coding bootcamps, certification program trainings like AWS Certified XYZ, MySQL/Oracle/... DBA, Cisco Certified, Microsoft Partner, you name it). Some drift into specialist roles from generalist jobs (with or without the employer paying for additional training) because they prove to be good enough at a topic no one else cares much about. Some get ordered into it, especially in public service/military where your choice is to obey or get the boot. Of these: - the first group tends to have the greater holistic view about their certification topic and know a ton about best practices, but lack detailed knowledge about dependencies, prerequisites and other experience you only gain during real world experimentation and work. - the second group, the ones I like most, may lack best practices, but their experience makes more than up for that - the third are one hell of an explosive mixture. Either you get a combination of the first two groups (basically, someone with tons of certificates because you're not worth anything in public service without a paper proving your worth, and a lot of experience working in constrained and otherwise troubled environments) which is the best you can get, or you get a serial bullshitter whose best experience is in kissing leadership arses (as said, all that matters in public service is the papers, not knowledge or performance).

cratermoon 4y ago

I'm a specialist in identity and access management – oauth, SAML, SCIM, that sort of thing. How did I get there? In my first job I was tasked with bringing up an organizational directory using x.500 and LDAP. Next job I was asked to help implement what we'd now call a paywall for newspaper's website, where subscribers to the paper got access to additional features. Over the years, more or less every job moved me through stages of knowing more and more about the field.

deleted 4y ago

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