DEV Community

Discussion on: Who's the Better Hire? - Jack of All Trades OR Master of One

Collapse
 
hunghvu profile image
Hung Vu

Right now, even though I mostly focus on web dev, I still consider myself as a generalist, and market myself as is due to the few reasons.

  1. I don't have enough experience to confidently say I'm a specialist (years of experience).
  2. I like technologies in general, so I learn a wide range of skillset as a hobby.
  3. Most importantly, I have not decided which definitive path to invest my time in yet. Web dev itself is huge!

I think people at the starting point of their career are always generalists, even with international certificates like CCNA, GCP associate, etc. However, to advance your career, I guess specialize in one aspect is the only way (T-shaped). At least to me, I have never seen a job listing to hire a senior "generalist".

Collapse
 
curiousdev profile image
CuriousDev • Edited

Also do not forget how difficult it would be to become a "Senior Generalist", if becoming just a "Senior Specialist" (with good fundamental knowledge of course) is already very hard.
You have to specialize to some extend, you cannot just know "a bit of everything".