Do you want to be a JACK or a MASTER

There is a saying in IT industry pointing out to a professional stating that he is the “Jack of all Trades but Mater of none”. When I was commuting by a train this thought lingered in me, whether in this ever changing world a professional has to be a Master of one or he wants to be a Jack of all trades.

At the beginning of this discussion my mind pops me with a strange answer “No way those days are long gone, Nothing are been re discovered then. Now the best you can do is to pick your field and master it”. Was that Syllabi right?

It is entirely possible to be a jack of all trades, master of many. How? Specialists overestimate the time needed to “master” a skill and confuse “master” with “perfect”. Based on my experience and research, it is possible to become world-class in almost any skill within one year. In the world of dogmatic specialists, it’s the generalist who ends up running the show because he has a broad range of skills and sees the unseen interconnectedness. As technology becomes a commodity with the democratization of information, it’s the big-picture generalists who will predict, innovate, and rise to power fastest. There is a reason military “generals” are called such.

It’s even more fun, in the most serious existential sense. The jack of all trades people can maximizes his number of peak experiences in life and learns to enjoy the pursuit of excellence unrelated to material gain, all while finding the few things he is truly uniquely suited to dominate. The specialist who imprisons himself in self-inflicted one-dimensionality — pursuing and impossible perfection — spends decades stagnant or making imperceptible incremental improvements while the curious generalist consistently measures improvement in quantum leaps. It is only the latter who enjoys the process of pursuing excellence. So Jack of all trades excels on a wide world perspective basis.

Jack Or Master

 

Speaking in terms of career aspect, this is a kind of good news, bad news situation. The good news is that you can do so many things. The bad news is that companies want specific skills for their particular job opening. This is especially true today, when hiring a new employee and adding the cost of the salary and benefits to their payroll is such a major decision. Employers do not necessarily need someone who has dabbled in a subject, but rather want someone who can demonstrate that they can do the specific job for which they are recruiting. We incorrectly believe that the wider the net we spread, the more fish we will catch. That is not the case with an unfocused job search. It is preferable to have two or three resumes that are pinpointed to a certain type of job, rather than to have just one resume that covers all the bases. Having multiple versions of your resume can also make your job search more efficient and directed. When you do succeed in getting an interview scheduled, be sure to prepare for it by studying the parameters of the job, and how the company’s needs apply to your skills.

Another benefit of a more focused search is that it makes it easier for people who really want to help you to direct their efforts on your behalf. A message of “I can do almost anything” or “I am good at these ten various things” will make it harder for your contacts to produce the relevant introductions that you need. The more focused your networking efforts are, the more effective the results will be.

So Jack of all trades excels when you are in a dominable role, But for the starters preferring to be a Jack won’t suit their desire to achieve more in this ever changing world.

Thanks for reading!

Though I am not en expert, I hope it helps