...there’s a strange conception among non-IT folks that results in a paradoxical situation; even though you’re specialized, even though you’ve been encouraged, pushed even, to specialize, you’re still expected to know everything about anything that ever flipped a bit.
This. I've unwittingly become the Angular guy on a back-end focused workplace and my pushes to gain exposure to the back-end stack are largely ignored. And yet I'm expected to just easily transition to it when I need to make an update. All too often I get, "You don't know this?"
The flip-side of it is that it is an opportunity to differentiate myself, but only if I can also keep up on the stuff that keeps me common with the rest.
This. I've unwittingly become the Angular guy on a back-end focused workplace and my pushes to gain exposure to the back-end stack are largely ignored. And yet I'm expected to just easily transition to it when I need to make an update. All too often I get, "You don't know this?"
The flip-side of it is that it is an opportunity to differentiate myself, but only if I can also keep up on the stuff that keeps me common with the rest.
Amen brother, amen.
You can make good strides with the differentiation factor, but it's a tightrope walk for sure.