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by navneetloiwal 1372 days ago
I can provide perspective from both sides of the table, to add to the wonderful comments already posted.

The first few years in my career were a will-do-anything attitude. So yes, like the OP, I did a bunch of different things. A few years in, I harbored similar thoughts of feeling inadequate. A jack-of-all-trades-but-master-of-none. Especially, since I was at Google and was surrounded by the best of the best and experts/specialists in anything you could name.

My next stint was at an early stage startup (<10 employees). This is when I started to realize that this "weakness" may actually be a strength. You could point me to a wide array of things and I could run with it. I could take the principles from one stack/language/system and use them in another.

Now, as a founder, my favorite hires are generalists. Engineers who have a wide breadth of experience, a do-whatever-it-takes mindset, and ideally, a sprinkling of product/business sense. They are the first-principles thinkers. They can handle ambiguity and change without batting an eye. They will figure when/where you need a specialist.

Be proud of being a generalist.

2 comments

It gives me hope. I am on same position as OP. However, I have decided to sell my soul to Graphics. I mean literally and figuratively. I see there are only few people who can do graphics compared to other field. It is quite a niche to work in graphics!
Are you currently hiring? I've just hit 30 as a generalist and the job markets are a mess... Would be happy to connect in case you need a hand with any projects.