Jack of all trades - why generalists will thrive in an evermore technical world
The moniker "jack of all trades" it is often used as a term to belittle a broad yet shallow skillset someone possesses, but I believe it should be worn as a badge of honour.
Specialisms take a great deal of time and effort, directed on a very specific and narrow field of work / study. This effort in specialism has brought about breakthroughs in everything from understanding medieval literature to genome editing and even music composition. It is vital for progress in a number of fields, but equally vital are the roles played by those with a more rounded skillset.
The depth of knowledge in almost everything on the planet is growing deeper and becoming more accessible, with more technological solutions able to serve up information and allow for expert collaboration and validation at the click of a button. With this level of information sharing and cross-referencing becoming automated, the requirement for so many specialists in each field has been waning, which is where the generalist can really excel.
Living in this age of automation means that those with a lower level - though not a total absence - of expertise in several areas can combine these by harnessing the power of technology to fill in the gaps in their knowledge or automate specialised processes. In industry, rather than having individuals assigned to siloed roles that they are unable to break from, a generalist can sit across engineering, support, sales and even training teams, being expert enough to understand each department while having the breadth of skills that allow for the full appreciation of how a given product interacts with the client at each stage.
It's a valuable tool and almost a specialism in itself to be able to wear "many hats" and as technology continues to allow us to stand on the shoulders of giants, those who are able to bridge different disciplines will have the insights to pioneer new products and services that only come with a fresh perspective.
Happily, specialists aren't being left behind in all this, with technological systems at the forefront of so many professions, the specialist has almost been forced to diversify from their elected field. Chemists are now able to use cutting edge AI to model scenarios and run simulations on different compounds without having to build them physically; Lawyers are becoming skilled users of structured query language in order to retrieve digitised case law and even archaeologists are becoming experienced users of mixed reality systems, helping them visualise newly discovered artefacts or restoring partial ruins to their former glory.
With such visionary generalists as Elon Musk, Steve Jobs and the original “renaissance man” Leonardo Da Vinci I think it’s high time “Jack” was given a bit more credit, after all - master of none can often prove to be better than master of one.
