Perhaps the generalists are the only ones who see any value in their work.

FWIW, here is the actual, unabridged definition of each (plus one other):

Generalist – someone who isn’t particularly good at anything and therefore greatly underestimates the requirements, ultimately leaving the job unfinished.

Specialist – someone who only wants to work on the “fun stuff” and whose devotion to fulfilling this end is paramount, ultimately leaving the job unfinished.

Trenchworker – someone who hammers out a meager living by cleaning up the mess that constantly rains down the cracks. See ‘generalist’ and ‘specialist’ for details.

Having said that I don’t think it’s a real problem which way to go – either way you’ll find your place. I think the more important thing is how fast you gain experience. If you constantly work on getting more experience (doesn’t matter if that means digging deeper in one place or going further to dig another hole) you will be considered as a good professional.

When you just wait for better days to come doing nothing to move from the place you stuck you don’t give yourself a chance to move your career step ahead. No matter if you preferred to be a generalist or a specialist.

I actually disagreed with his and IBM’s view. I think having varying perspectives is very valuable. If you have a career path working in different areas of IT, I think it adds to the overall value. The lines between systems, network, security, and other areas continue to blur. A good understanding of them all makes someone well rounded in their craft verses someone who only sees a issue from one angle.

When i used the word ‘better’, I should have explained that I meant it in the sense of a person’s view for their career. Neither option is ‘better’ than the other in the eyes of another…only in your own eyes and what you want to do with your career.

What’s better about being a generalist?

More diversity in your career?
Using many different skills?
Jump from department to another easily?
Quicker up the career / promotion ladder?

What’s better about being a specialist?

Paid more?
More marketable / in demand?
More interesting?
Easier to go freelance?

I agree there is a need for both and in my experience you quickly fall into one camp or the other.

Andrew

I think taking the generalist route too early in a career will doom one to the ‘mile wide and inch deep’ knowledge trap. That being said, I think it is worth thinking about early on in your career.

Let’s use an Electrical Engineering example:

Do you want to design circuits (or microprocessors, etc) your entire career or do you want to have a more rounded and diverse career?

The answer to the above question will lead you down the road you want to go…specialist or generalist.

Now…being a generalist isn’t as bad as some people make it out to be. My definition of a generalist is someone that can be put into any situation in business and be successful. This is because they have a broad knowledge base and broad experiences to draw from.

The same isn’t necessarily true for a specialist. Given enough time, a specialist could learn another specialty, but you wouldn’t expect them to be able to ‘hit the ground running’ when put into a new/unfamiliar situation.

Good question about the operations/engineering manager….and I think the answer is ‘it depends’. I’ll consider the engineering manager since that’s what I’m more familiar with.

Engineering Managers could be an either/or….this person could have moved into management after 20 years of design work. This person could also have been an engineer who moved into the management track after only a few years in design.

As a young guy that is just starting out in his career, what comes to mind instantly is will being a generalist give you enough foundation is a topic or industry that you will become an asset to your organization. Can one become a generalist to early in their career?

From what I see on college campuses the majority are majoring in general business which will result in an overload of generalist in corporate America. Will this present problems for the economy going forward if we don’t have the specialist to design the products that we have come accustomed to (i.e. not enough engineers and to many MBAs)?

Also, When looking at this topic from an organizational perspective is an operations manager or engineering manager a generalist or specialist?