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Over-specialization is hard on your ability to find another job if you lose your current one.

by Jiro 3y ago

Jeff_Brown 3y ago
Completely true. The analogy to hydration holds, I think -- too much and too little can both be problematic. But I see seem to run into much more under-specialization than over-specialization. More than 90% of the wildest successes I know went really deep on something pretty narrow.
- HPsquared 3y ago
  Specialization is like putting everything on one number in roulette. It's great if you win (i.e. your specialty is in demand), but you're more likely to lose everything you invested.
  - Jeff_Brown 3y ago
    It is a risk, but not as bad as you suggest, because (1) in work you can get an incremental sense of what is worth specializing in, and (2) there's always some degree to which skills are transferrable and experience is impressive even to someone who doesn't need you to do what you did again.
andrewSC 3y ago
And so it’s a balance :^) I personally take the approach of specializing in what I believe to be my natural talents (i.e. seemingly able to pick up X much easier than whoever) while just being generally aware of new technologies or other spaces/sectors. Also tinkering and/or having a general interest in tech helps lol.. IME doing this has helped me pivot into a new tech or other areas where I may not be specialized in, but may need to eventually be for a new role. Also worth mentioning is taking a pragmatic approach to problem solving in general.. I’ve personally found that if you’re able to demonstrate solid reasoning and/or problem solving, generally learning a new lang or specializing in something different than what you’re used to, isn’t too too bad. I’m not really sure how specialists outside of tech/in other sectors can transition into other roles “easily” though… hm. Edit: I wanted to mention that IME in STEM, most? More often than not? are goal oriented… It is _completely_ okay to not have any “working” thing at the end of your tinkering/learning… The journey into that “thing” can be a learning experience in and of itself. I’ve often started to learn things but after a certain point have told myself “I’m gonna stop here and that’s okay. I don’t need to have a solid understanding of this, at this time”. YMMV…

Over-specialization is hard on your ability to find another job if you lose your current one.

by Jiro 3y ago

Over-specialization is hard on your ability to find another job if you lose your current one.

Completely true. The analogy to hydration holds, I think -- too much and too little can both be problematic. But I see seem to run into much more under-specialization than over-specialization. More than 90% of the wildest successes I know went really deep on something pretty narrow.

HPsquared 3y ago
Specialization is like putting everything on one number in roulette. It's great if you win (i.e. your specialty is in demand), but you're more likely to lose everything you invested.
- Jeff_Brown 3y ago
  It is a risk, but not as bad as you suggest, because (1) in work you can get an incremental sense of what is worth specializing in, and (2) there's always some degree to which skills are transferrable and experience is impressive even to someone who doesn't need you to do what you did again.

andrewSC 3y ago

And so it’s a balance :^) I personally take the approach of specializing in what I believe to be my natural talents (i.e. seemingly able to pick up X much easier than whoever) while just being generally aware of new technologies or other spaces/sectors. Also tinkering and/or having a general interest in tech helps lol.. IME doing this has helped me pivot into a new tech or other areas where I may not be specialized in, but may need to eventually be for a new role. Also worth mentioning is taking a pragmatic approach to problem solving in general.. I’ve personally found that if you’re able to demonstrate solid reasoning and/or problem solving, generally learning a new lang or specializing in something different than what you’re used to, isn’t too too bad. I’m not really sure how specialists outside of tech/in other sectors can transition into other roles “easily” though… hm. Edit: I wanted to mention that IME in STEM, most? More often than not? are goal oriented… It is _completely_ okay to not have any “working” thing at the end of your tinkering/learning… The journey into that “thing” can be a learning experience in and of itself. I’ve often started to learn things but after a certain point have told myself “I’m gonna stop here and that’s okay. I don’t need to have a solid understanding of this, at this time”. YMMV…