
Ask HN: Would you hire a jack of all trades? - playforward
I&#x27;m looking for advice from the HN community.<p>I know a little about everything, tried lots of different things (non-technical roles), but I&#x27;ve never managed to find an area to pursue. This is not because of laziness or an inability to focus, thinking that the grass is greener on the other side etc. It is just something that has happened over time.<p>As such, I&#x27;ve become a jack of all trades and I&#x27;m almost entirely self-taught. I can code, design, write, do research etc. But not enough to be hired into any of those positions.<p>Although there are advantages to being a jack of all trades, I&#x27;m more concerned with not being able to find an area to focus on. I would love to just delve in and become &quot;obsessed&quot; with a subject matter. It has come to a point that when people ask me what I do for a living, I don&#x27;t know what to say. I don&#x27;t really have a job title.<p>Some people have a calling in life, others end up in a profession by luck or coincidence. I&#x27;ve had neither happen. And this isn&#x27;t about following your passion and all that stuff.<p>So what should I do? Just pick an area with good job prospects and become a master of that since I can&#x27;t seem to find something to focus on?<p>Would you hire a jack of all trades? If so, why? How come there are no job posts for these kinds of people?
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lsiunsuex
I'm like that, and I'd hire myself.

A full stack developer "could" be considered a jack of all trades - someone
that can handle server administration as well as frontend / backend
development - you'd be surprised how many people are afraid or don't know
anything about servers. I've worked with many that only know mainframe
programming or only know frontend development. Theres nothing wrong with that
and in certain situations, it's a good thing. But if / when shit hits the fan
(as it often does) it's good to have someone that can look at an apache config
and relate it to why feature x doesn't work.

Keep looking - pick a skill and get good at that, while maintaining /
expanding knowledge in other areas. You'll find something.

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davelnewton
> I'm more concerned with not being able to find an area to focus on.

Have you looked/tried? You say you "can't seem to find something to focus
on"\--why not? It doesn't "just happen", even if the reason is a subconscious
aversion to settling on an area.

Would _I_ hire a JooT? No; I don't need one--I almost always need experts, or
people with relevant experience that can become one. That requires _both_
depth and breadth, but _too_ broad-and-shallow is sub-optimal at best.

