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I'm a generalist. I've done things ranging from work with thermoelectric elements to creating battery systems to making UAVs to full-stack development. Sometimes it's really easy to find work. Sometimes it's really hard. I recommend expanding to as large of an area as you can. I started as a full-stack developer, which is kind of a generalist role. Then I expanded to thermoelectric stuff, and then UAVs and batteries. Each of these things started as a personal interest. If I were you, I'd find things you are interested in, and specialize in several of them as quickly as you can. Have you always been interested in hydrogen fuel cells? Spend a bit of time to learn as much as you possibly can about fuel cells. Know the cheap end of the market, know the expensive end, know the experimental research, know the size of the market. The easiest way to get a job as a generalist is to get a "normal" job and convince the company that you can solve their problems in other ways. Going up to a company and saying "Hi, I'd like to be a generalist at your company" won't usually work, but "I'd like to be a full-stack developer with freedom to collaborate with teams throughout the company" will. Eventually, you'll grow into the "generalist" role and the company will recognize you as such. The other, ideal option is to work for other generalists. For example, I was recently looking for someone who knows how to make CFD models, someone who can write assembly, and someone who knows about control surfaces. I would have hired a generalist who knows one or two of those three and could learn the rest quickly. I wanted to hire a generalist because I know that several months down the line, when I need something else, I can tell them "hey, I need you to do x now" and they can figure out how to do it themselves. Here's an example of how I provide value as a generalist. A company hired me a while ago to improve the efficiency of their UAV system. Because I know about battery technology, I was able to build them a battery pack that brought the flight time from 9 minutes to 28 minutes, and cut costs by over 90%. Because I'm a full-stack web developer, I was able to build a web interface to control the system. Because I've worked on UAVs, I knew when to replace parts with low-cost alternatives and when to spend several hundred dollars on one motor. Because I've done UI/UX work, the system was usable without any training for everyone involved. And since I knew how to make these things "from scratch" there was no need to send things out to external agencies, and I was able to develop the system very quickly. The hard part is convincing random people and companies that you're valuable to them. Unless you get lucky and find another generalist at the company that understands your value, you'll have to demonstrate it. But be careful. Only go to companies that have a semi-flexible structure already (e.x. don't try this at Microsoft or Apple.) Demonstrate your value with concrete things that can be done immediately with clear benefit. For example, at a lot of places I'm hired as a programmer, and I see a battery system that could be improved. I can go to them and say "by the way, you could switch out your current batteries for a custom pack and save $9000 per system, and I could build you that pack in less than an hour." If they like that, then the next suggestion I have will probably be an easier sell, and so on and so on until you've built up a role - official or unofficial - as a generalist. |