I'm a generalist myself. I've become decent at a wide-ranging set of skills - cooking, feminist lit-crit, Arabic drumming, odd things like that. I've become a g

I'm a generalist myself. I've become decent at a wide-ranging set of skills - cooking, feminist lit-crit, Arabic drumming, odd things like that. I've become a good but not awesome expert at a few things - configuration management, guitar, and others. An important exception to this entertaining aphorism is observed in the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition. Becoming an Expert (in the five level Dreyfus model) in something makes it much easier to become Competent or Proficient in other things. This has certainly been my experience, as things I learn in one area apply to learning others. The result is that people who never commit to expertise in anything struggle to achieve proficiency, or even competence in anything. They're neither generalists nor specialists... they're just trapped.