[heisenbit]

Being a great specialist commands a premium but can be tricky as niches can evaporate and then you are master of nothing.

Being a generalist can be tricky as you do not have a differentiating factor making it harder to get hired into highly paid jobs but easier to adapt.

People and communication skills are often more important than any of this but hiring in our industry is sadly keyword driven. As a very broad generalist I found myself in a fairly turbulent corporate environment. It should have been easy to get the jobs I wanted but it did not work so well - what I got were firefighting jobs leading to more firefighting jobs. I adopted now a portfolio of related technology and skills as my core and am marketing them actively. Works much better in getting work I like. It does not change who I am but it helps to get the tasks I want and also give me the platform to say no to things outside of the portfolio.

[k__]

Funny thing is, some things are considered general while being rather special.

Sure, being a "software consultant" is more genral than being a "mobile software consultant" but overall, most people on earth are neither.