

Multidisciplinary You - trematron
http://4ormat.com/ecr/multidisciplinary-you

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SoftwareMaven
Once I became "multidisciplinary", I found I could no longer happily work at
most large companies. With product management, marketing, engineering, and
some modest design (very modest! ;) skills, and a desire to actually use them,
small companies are the only places that don't want to pigeon-hole you.

So, if you want to be multidisciplinary in the day job, don't expect to do it
at a large company.

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richardburton
_Da Vinci made amazing discoveries and is revered as a polymath because he
took ideas from one field and applied them to another._

Such a great insight.

The disciplines I would like to master in this life are:

    
    
      1.) Riding in the barrel of a wave with a kite and surfboard.
      2.) Building a truly great company that makes people happier.
      3.) Raising a family with an amazing woman.
    

I have enjoyed pursuing the first two of those goals with very limited but
fulfilling success. The third goal is a bit alien at the moment!

~~~
mathattack
Dare I suggest you have the three priorities sorted in the wrong order?

~~~
shadowfiend
By priority, perhaps, but not by secondary factors. Kitesurfing is something
you decide to do, and you can do it on your own time with some outside
assistance. Building a great company requires a greater time investment, but
you're still (usually) in the driver's seat. You choose who to hire, and who
to fire. There are complications, of course, but ultimately you are in
control.

Finding an amazing woman (or significant other in general)? I feel like
there's a lot more luck and effort from an outsider (the relevant other
person) than either of the others. And you can only put your eggs in one
basket at a time. There's no AB testing, lean, agile, failing fast. It works,
or it doesn't, and sometimes things are looking great and suddenly leave a
giant crater you have to climb out of. So perhaps it's the one that's the
least certain in terms of how long it will take? Just a thought, might be
wrong :)

~~~
AznHisoka
Great point. I wanted to say something similar. Sometimes it's best to focus
on things you can control rather than put all your emotional desire on things
you can't. It's dangerous to put "raising a family" as one of your dreams in
life.. when you don't know if your wife is infertile, or whether she'll even
be around for the rest of your life... building a startup is at least
something you have some power over, borrowing going blind or being paralyzed,
and even then you can just be the boss and give commands to someone :)

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mathattack
Many of the so called narrow job descriptions actually require many skills.
Being a good Front End Web Developer requires knowledge of CS, psychology,
industrial design and the functional domain of the website. Of course as
others have stated, it's easier to be multidisciplinary at a small place.

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AznHisoka
Being multi-disciplined definitely gives you ideas for solving problems.
Innovation often happens in the cross roads of disciplines. Just knowing
technology or programming won't help you solve any non-technical problem in a
meaningful manner. And most meaningful problems are non-technical.

