Looking for a place to happen.

I’ve been a jack of all trades since 1996. The choice at the start of my career was simple: generalize or specialize. I generalized out of curiosity and boredom prevention. Now I wonder, is that approach a mistake? Is the question of generalizing or specializing still relevant? A friend of mine (Rod) said it perfectly: “People with broad interests are rarely successful.“

For me, IT was never an issue of specific technologies. Web programming languages and databases are all basically the same; approaches have essentially homogenized over the past years with the likes of MVC and SCRUM/Prince2/etc.  I won’t be so bold to say I’m language agnostic but thanks to the omnipresent GoogleSci-101, who isn’t?  The commonalities are always problems, processes & tools and — most importantly — how to best adapt people to those points.  For me, in my early career as a generalist, I floated from one situation to the next and applied my skills to whatever was thrown at me. My managers sculpted me into their one-man swiss-army knife. I was happy.

Now, let’s pass through consultancy, pre-doc and the various other business engagements of the past years and skip to (only) this year. Let’s see how this compares to Rod’s point. What have I seen in 2010?

1. Django and Mongo applications for public tender services.
   
2. Zend Framework applications. CMSes, etc.
3. WordPress design and customizations.
4. Proof-reading.
   
5. Relentless amounts of brainstorming that rarely materialize.
   
6. Server installations and administration.
   
7. Java devices.
   
8. Android.

There’s more, but it’s relatively clear I think. The point is, such variety — or as Rod eloquently put it: broad interest — is no longer an accepted or maintainable approach. To me, this spells the end of generalists. What’s worse is that I’m a few years late coming to this realization.

There’s more to this story.

The industry as I have experienced it has shifted deeper into a Venture Capital mindset — which is great stuff — with some less-than-trivial consequences. Personal branding and positioning have become, with some exception, the dominant focus. Furthermore, once you accept the VC mantra “it’s not the game, it’s the players” —  it seems fair to conclude you (aka: the technologist) are into the realm of specialization. The Universe’s Greatest PR Warriors will repeat “tell your story and tell it clear“.  The consequence is that you have a flood of people like myself whose stories are not clear; we must then adapt Rod’s point to account for branding and position.

Looking for a place  to happen.

I’m still not sure how I feel about explicit, conscious self-branding. I find terms like “social media guru” a bit annoying and arrogant.  However, I’m certain that the 8+ points above are a formula for disaster. So perhaps it’s (due) time to consolidate and paint my picture in thick, solid lines. Don’t get me wrong, I love working in different environments; perhaps some of these broad interests (or, curiosities) are better off listed as hobbies and not professions.

By the way, the title and inspiration of this post comes from a Tragically Hip song by the same name.

Fin.