Generalists vs Specialists

Neither. Pure specialists get pigeonholed. Pure generalists get discounted.What's needed are people who are just generalist enough to collaborate well with people in other roles (and in a pinch, fill in for them) as well as deep expertise in one (or sometimes two) fields.This is sometimes discussed as the need for "T-shaped individuals".Another valuable approach is to specialize in two orthogonal things (typically one technical skill and one business domain) and master th

I think being a generalist is somehow better (or safer?) than a specialist.Although you may not be able to find a position in a large company, small companies really need this kind of people. Maybe the salary isn't high, but it's relatively easier for a generalist to find a job. This can be important especially in the technology world where everything changes very fast. Imagine if you were a specialist in Blackberry making the best mobile hardware keyboard in the world ten years ago

I used to call myself a full-stack engineer. This worked a decade ago since I was earlier in my career and worked at places where implementing feature end-to-end from design, frontend to backend was standard practice. However there was a turning point a few years ago when I started to have real problems finding companies that still want to hire generalists. I'm not sure if that's just my bad luck or places like that just dried up.In theory all companies like adaptable people. In pra

There is a large place for generalists. A lot of companies, especially startups, love them because when you have a company of 5-10 people everyone needs the ability to wear a lot of different hats. My point was that being a pure specialist, or a pure generalist is not great in my opinion, because often aspects of both are necessary to be successful.The last part where I stated I would prefer a specialist is a matter of opinion. I believe that being proven at a high level in one area makes tra

My answer is it depends on what you want to do. If you want to work at a FAANG, specialization is the name of the game. Find a niche like time-series databases or something, and work on that.If you want to work at a smaller company or found a startup, being a generalist is a great asset. It also puts you closer to the top of the hierarchy if you can make yourself invaluable to the business/yourself by being a “Swiss army knife.” By that, I mean everyone wants you around, because you can

> I don't know anyone who would hire someone like you, who knows a little bit about lots of things. Most businesses want someone to join their team to provide significant value without that value being overly-difficult to measure.Yeah...my current job is like that (this is irony)....we need specialist for technology x. You will be responsible for ABCD.First day in new job...you know what? We need someone who will handle y. Doesn't matter that you don't have so much skill

This advice isn't really universal. It really depends on what type of job you're looking for. If you want to work at a startup, being a specialist ain't going to get you much attention. What's important is that you've had a broad range of experiences and can adapt quickly in any situation.If you're a founder or early employee at a fast-growing startup, you'll have to make the choice to either remain a generalist (i.e., C-suite), or join the majority of other

I can't speak for other because people choose different walk of life but I thought I share what I felt about specialization vs generalization w.r.t to large companies and startups.Generalization will limit career and compensation eventually. There will be a point where the market will have a glut for general skillset.Specialization, on the other hand, usually leads to higher compensation and valuable skillset.This does not mean that Specialist can't be Generalist. It could be

I agree that you should tailor your pitch to the company that is hiring, but bullshit like "generalists don't get hired" is one of the reasons I left software development. People who have the fluidity of thinking to be able to grok say Ruby as well as assembly are an asset, not a liability. They can see the forest rather than the trees. There are times when you need a specialist, usually because you need some domain specific expertise, but to penalize generalists is totally insane

In my experience I would like to move in the other direction specialization. As a generalist by circumstance (First engineering hire and then I became the only developer at my startup when my CTO left) it gets grating after a while. Particularly when the newer hires automatically assume if there is something unpleasant or even slightly outside their defined work, it's your job. What i also observed that as a generalist there is a cap on what you can learn in a specific field. This works for a wh