The Coding Career Handbook by swyx

Author:swyx
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Softcover

Chapter 23

Specialist or Generalist?

Let’s get this out of the way first - you can be extremely successful as either a specialist or a generalist. It just happens that different situations call for different types of developers.

It is hard to discuss this topic intelligently when people cannot even agree on definitions. Someone who looks like a generalist in certain circles, looks like a specialist to everyone else standing outside that circle. Specialization is in the eye of the beholder.

Consider Michael Phelps. In the 2008 Olympics he won 8 gold medals. Eight. (The guy is so ridiculous that he set a record for setting records.) To most mortals, he looks like a swimming specialist - you wouldn’t put him in a basketball lineup, for example. To swimmers, he looks like an untouchable generalist - setting solo and relay world records in freestyle, butterfly, and medley categories at multiple distances in the span of seven days.

Everything is concentric circles. Just as you feel like you’ve specialized in something, you realize the array of subfields that fan out with people well ahead of you in each. If you’re trying to generalize, there’s always one more level up, down, or sideways to go.

As it turns out - this is a useful fractal you can exploit.

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