[hugh3]

I've always said that becoming a generalist is a two-step process:

1. Become a specialist

2. Become a generalist

Step one is important because it gives you a useful and marketable skill to support yourself while you're working on step two, but also because it means you understand what it really means to be an expert on something. This gives you some humility and perspective when you start attacking all the other domains of human knowledge.