Self Motivation: Specialist or Generalist

Dujon Walsham • 2 December 2018

Which is the so called right path? Or are they both paths to take?

Have touched on this a couple of times in other blogs but with the current state of the IT market it seems perfect to write something about it.

So which is the better path or your preferred style of skill set harnessing? Is it being a Specialist on a specific technology area? Or would it be better as a generalist being equally well rounded on everything? We should explore this further.

What my background was
So to divulge on my background I had been an IT generalist from the beginning of my career up until about it 2011/2012 so about 5 or 6 years.
I never actually made a choice as to which way I was going to choose in terms of taking specific technologies under my wing . And with a newbie hunger you want to see everything that's around and of course newer technologies which show gave should have you even more eager to want to learn them.

I think that before you have any form of specialization, you need to have a solid foundation first before you can actually find yourself and know exactly what your specialty is. In order for you to obtain a solid foundation I believe you need to be a generalist first as I was.

How did you stumble across your specialty
Centralized management technologies seemed to always intrigue me the most, and this came from when I use to have (still have) an insanely large music library which I had always meticulously categorized and kept up to date. So when I first came across the System Centre Technologies it was an instant click.

The first ones I got two grips with was SCOM (System Centre Operations Manager) 2007 and SCVMM (System Centre Virtual Machine Manager) 2008. Two different technologies in their own right but in the same family suite

You will find that system Centre technologies are actually finding themselves in every single role as a default requirement, and majority of them being a desired skill

Specialist in being a Generalist?
I literally just thought of this. Is it possible to actually be a Specialist in being a generalist? Let's look at it like this.

My background is an Architect/SME on the entire System Centre Suite
• SCCM
• SCOM
• SCVMM
• SCSM
• Orchestrator
• SCDPM
So when it comes to any roles which evolve around these then assume these would be perfect roles for me.

But here is where the point I made about having a solid foundation comes full circle again.

Because though I specialize on those technologies, they have an integration (whether out of the box or not) to every single technology on which I used to be a generalist on!

So I've now in some kind of way branched out to being a generalist....but with the reach of my specialist skills.

So much now to the point I can write in multiple scripting and developer languages as well as SQL writing and this allows me to leverage the powerhouses which I specialize in into even bigger beasts and this is me really in my element of creativity.

So now DevOps type of working has now been adopted into my skill set.

Not a choice but a hierarchical movement
I always thought that there was a choice that had to be made between both whether it be the argument of being a generalist was being a "Jack of all trades, but master of none" or that being a Specialist would be limiting yourself to where it can become more difficult for you to obtain a new role, restricted career development or limiting your exposure.

But I combination of both can allow you to find yourself, as I did.

What if I never find a specialization
This is where your self motivation kicks in. As you could be in a position where you specifically might not be given a shot or thrown in the mix to absorb new knowledge, so if you are seeking something that will take you interest further, or you have seen something that you like or even seen a colleague that is doing something you are interested in, don't be afraid to ask questions and research.

Invest in your own lab and get to grips with it more , and build a profile around it so you can not only prove something to yourself but also flex what you are made of.

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