

The Rise of the Generalist - frankus
http://modeledbehavior.com/2011/09/16/the-rise-of-the-generalist/

======
mathattack
Sometimes the specialist/generalist discussion misses something by being too
black and white. A computer is created by specialists, but empowers
generalists and specialists alike. Founders and CEOs need generalist skills to
complement (not replace) their specialist skills. It helps to be a specialist
when job hunting - until your skills are out favor, and then it helps to be a
generalist.

~~~
wccrawford
It used to be that there wasn't a debate. There was a choice of whether to be
a jack-of-all-trades or not, but it was always pretty clear that both sides
had advantages, and both sides were needed for a functioning system. Nobody
debated whether each side was needed.

It's even murkier today, though, because while I'm a specialist (IT), and I'm
a specialist (programming), I'm also a generalist (web, mobile, desktop... I
do it all) and that kind of thing didn't really happen before. You were a
handyman, or an electrician. Not some weird hybrid of the 2 where you went
down 1 specialized path, only to branch out at the end.

------
forgotAgain
The job market disagrees with you. Corporations want exact or near exact match
to their requirements if they are to consider you for a position.

Keyword scanning of resumes by HR and managers looking to minimize the need
for training has led to this.

For start-ups I agree with the assertion. Otherwise the reverse is true.

~~~
muhfuhkuh
But then, is the change going to come in the form of a post-corporate world?
One where, because of globalization and hyper-specialization happening beyond
our shores, the US undergoes a second "industrial revolution" vis a vis the
generalist contractor, who has no corporate affiliation as far as career/jobs
go, but goes from job to job, doing whatever is needed and filling in roles as
necessary, often from home? From the trivial (stuffing envelopes, follow-the-
sun sales/customer support, transcriptions) to non-trivial
(programming/development, deployment and remote monitoring and management of
cloud compute services, translation, creative output, paralegal or
administration), all while on 1099 rather than salaried full-timers. And, this
kind of generalist work can be also farmed out, as well, to specialists. What
the labor-intensive fields like construction and farming has done with
subcontractors and day-laborers, we (meaning both big megacorporations _and_
startups/microbusinesses/mom+pops) can do for our own "softer" industries.

Which, then, begs the question: Is the future a world of mega-multinationals
making and doing _everything_ for us? It really seemed to be prior to the 2008
crash. It may be my perception because I'm working on my own multiple side
projects and I frequent HN so much, but I feel like the ground is shifting. It
looks like it's becoming more of a post-corporate scenario, where the incoming
generations Y and Z distrust the corporations by default in favor of the
small, more personalized and targeted, vendor (on or offline). One needn't
look further than HNs own submissions to see the popularity of indie made
goods,the popularity of Kickstarter projects, microISVs (little web apps,
mobile apps by small teams), the popularity of Etsy and the Humble Indie
bundle and runaway stories like Angry Birds, indie scribes Amanda Hocking and
John Locke, and even smaller winemakers and microbreweries. It looks like
things are flowing in another direction.

~~~
forgotAgain
Perhaps but I believe the trend of more and more wealth being concentrated in
a smaller and smaller percentage of the population indicates that smaller is
getting smaller and bigger is getting bigger.

The future for most may very well be as 1099's forever moving between projects
but I don't think the vast majority of them will match the income of their
corporate-working predecessors. The post corporate world will for most be due
to corporations jettisoning expensive human resources in exchange for less
expensive resources available elsewhere rather than being due to a populist
rush to return to the age of the craftsman.

------
hvs
Sure, it's possible to do a lot of things with a computer as a generalist, but
as soon as you really need to start digging in and getting to details, you
need the specialists. Those that know all of the nooks and crannies of the
technology you're using. There are always going to be general concepts that
apply across different technologies, but that doesn't mean that you can just
have a bunch of generalists that produce.

Just one example without even leaving the software development world: If I'm a
Ruby developer (I'm not) would you hire me to work on your trading system
built in C++?

~~~
r00fus
> Just one example without even leaving the software development world: If I'm
> a Ruby developer (I'm not) would you hire me to work on your trading system
> built in C++?

It depends on a) my assessment of your transferrable skills and b) your domain
knowledge.

In fact, coding language skills are not the best indicator of whether a
prospective employee is a good fit for a particular position.

------
lawn
"To be good you can be a generalist and you could also be a specialist. But
the trick to greatness is to be both."

Paraphrasing from memory, source unknown.

