[tincholio]

There is another aspect that is relevant, and that is that the effort needed to get to the 99th percentile of some ability is way larger than that to get to the 90th, and often, you can do very well with just being in the 85th. So you can become pretty good at many different (often complementary) things, in ways that likely make you way more effective than that guy who's a guru in a very specific topic.

Then again, sometimes that guru is also needed.

[jetrink]

This is a good observation and applies to non-professional skills as well. For example, you can learn to repair your clothes at an 85% level using only a $20 sewing kit and some YouTube videos. Taking a well-loved shirt to a tailor is a chore, throwing it away is sad, but mending it is gratifying. Yet somehow, despite the amount of knowledge freely available on the internet, things like this are increasingly neglected or left to specialists.

[tincholio]

Yes, I meant it in the general sense, actually, though it probably didn't come through like that.

[JoshTriplett]

Also, being somewhat skilled in many things can give you enough knowledge to know which to use and when to learn more.

[notduncansmith]

Scott Adams (creator of the Dilbert comic) offers similar career advice: https://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/07/car...

[hinkley]

One of the things I treasure in a good generalist is the ability to be an informed consumer. They can think a little farther down the road about what we need from solutions and why.

[contingencies]

instaguru = STFW, IRC #thing, scihub/libgen 'thing'.