I am a generalist. Not once in my twenty years of experience have I met anyone like me. I can write firmware just as well as I can design and implement UX and UI. Heck, I can design circuits or even products in fusion 360. Where are all these so called generalists? If you mean “fullstack”, that is only a small fraction of software, and the bar has lowered a lot since JavaScript has become ubiquitous (so you only need to know TS/JS to call yourself fullstack…I don’t think you need to include even something like SQL).
As such, demand for me is so high that I’ve simply retired from all the money that was thrown at me (it’s also pretty easy for me to start my own business…although exiting is another story). I have no LinkedIn or other online presence and I still get headhunted despite having no interest.
Just remember your BATNA when you enter a negotiation.
I can do all these things too, and learn more, but without recent professional experience on the resume, it’s not generally known or believed. (Part of the problem is that interviewers default to disbelief these days.)
No one is knocking on my door looking for generalists, and a large majority of job listings are short-sighted on specifics. i.e. no one cares about my computer architecture, QA, or sysad chops.
The bulk of my nest egg comes from equity. As you grow you find that the more of a generalist you are the smaller a company you should be at to maximize your impact.
As a company grows the roles get pigeonholed further and further, diminishing the value of your generalist skillset. The main antidote to this is to be higher up in the org, but that usually doesn’t happen organically over a generalist career (you have to create those jobs for yourself).
Not a single offer for me from a startup since I got older, so not really a viable path. Can’t blame this year on ageism however, because I’ve not been interviewed.
i have 35+ years. Been quite a few places and hats. Dozens of languages, assemblers, client/server, UI+UX, Prolog, hardware down to transistors, even mechanics ; methodologies and cultures, ..., you-name-it. i bet my cv is too-long-didnt-read.
And Noone gives a damn. They all look for their 3y "senior js dev" and don't see anything else. And those "seniors" grow on trees anyway.
A few decades ago everyone learned C/C+ in school. Then might take an interest in gui programming, later read a book on what makes good ui. Over a decade or three, quite doable.
Firmware is C (and I forgot to mention asm) and a few special rules about boot. Less difficult than tedious in modern times.
Electronics is a different subject, but I took physics in school and dabbled in soldering etc. Amateur electronics at least is pretty approachable if you have the interest.
Computer Architecture class bridges the two nicely. There you go—well rounded.
As such, demand for me is so high that I’ve simply retired from all the money that was thrown at me (it’s also pretty easy for me to start my own business…although exiting is another story). I have no LinkedIn or other online presence and I still get headhunted despite having no interest.
Just remember your BATNA when you enter a negotiation.