Generally a Generalist

In about 90% of my working life, I’ve been a generalist - the guy who “wears many hats” and “gets his hands dirty” with work from across the organization. During my time in tech, this is exemplified during my time at start ups running operations, designing support workflows, and eventually - dabbling with managing products.

5 years ago, generalists were frowned upon. I remember vividly watching reels, videos, and reading posts about how people should hyper-specialize in a domain or skillset. It’s never been my style, but I understand the reasoning behind the advice. Tech was “figured out” back then. All the top companies were looking for specific talent to solve specific issues. I mean, that’s still technically true today - but the main difference from today compared to back then is the emergence of AI.

I akin the emergence of AI similar to that of big tech back in 2010. Everyone was scrambling to take traditional industries and “disrupt” it with tech (think Airbnb vs hotels, Uber/Lyft vs taxis, etc). During times of great tech innovations, I think generalists reign supreme. Somebody who’s willing to take on any facet of the work necessary to deliver products with a sense of urgency could be seen as more valuable than the person who’s just great at one thing.

As I reflect on my work history in the past 5 years, I think about how incredibly lucky I’ve been to have been given opportunities to work in so many great teams, industries, and company sizes. This diversification has paved more and more opportunities for me down the line, but more importantly, equipped me with a special skillset to operate as a generalist. Truly a “jack of all trades, master of none” - now is a great time to specialize in being general, slotting in anywhere you can deliver value in, and gain a huge advantage in the new tech landscape by being involved in everything.