Generalists vs specialists - which one should you strive for as a developer?

I started out as a graphic designer. Web-development was just a tool to bring my creativity to life. As I couldn't keep up with everything going on in the design and development world, I made a tough decision to focus just on web development. Thinking that my life will be easier now, I surprisingly saw that there are so many different paths you can take as a dev- full-stack, backend, frontend, DevOps, etc.

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That's why, it's a question that's been bothering me since I can remember - should I specialize or try to focus on many things at once? To a person who's curious and wants to know everything, the answer seems obvious. But based on my experience, the reality is a bit more complex. In order to answer that, let's go over both options.

The pros and cons of a specialist

A specialist is someone who's got lots of experience, knowledge, or skill in a particular subject[1]. In order to gain that kind of mastery, one must do focused work for a long period of time, giving attention only to a limited range of subjects.

In the world of web development, you can think of front-end and back-end developers. They specialize in a single part of the web development process. And even then, you can dig even further. One may be a front-end developer focusing on VueJS. Or a back-end developer, specializing in Laravel. The options are...endless.

As with everything in life, there's both good and bad in specializing.

Some good things about being of a specialist include

Ability to contribute to solving complex problems
Possibility to become an expert in a specific domain
Less competition
More money

The negative parts about specializing include:

Less variety in the problems you're able to solve
Bigger chance of becoming obsolete
A danger of having a narrow view of things

The pros and cons of a generalist

A generalist - someone who has a range of skills and knowledge [2]. In order to be a capable generalist, one must have experience with various subjects over an extended period of time.

In the world of web development, a full-stack developer can be seen as a generalist. If you can be efficient in contributing to the frontend, backend, databases, and also ship the project using various dev-ops tools, then you can call yourself a full-stack developer(that said, there's no clear definition for that). But not only - as a jack of all trades, you should also be able to manage projects, talk to clients, etc.

Image taken from https://www.edureka.co/blog/how-to-become-a-full-stack-web-developer/

Some of the good things about being a generalist include

Being able to solve problems in various subjects
An ability to see the bigger picture
A smaller chance of becoming obsolete, as your skills are useful in different situations
Variety

The negative parts of being a generalist include

There are smaller limits to the depth of your knowledge
It's easier to replace you when problems get specific
A constant need to keep yourself up-to-date with various topics

What should you do?

As you can see, there are cons and pros for both being a specialist and being a generalist. Which one should you strive for? In order to answer that, some points must be considered.

Experience

I believe your experience matters a lot when making the decision.

If you are just starting out, I advise you to focus on a single subject, at least initially. For example, when you want to start building websites, focus just on either frontend or backend to gain some initial experience. During the process, you'll get to craft your skills, build an understanding of how things work, and eventually, notice where other competencies are needed.

In case you already have some experience, there's more freedom to choose - jump over to another subject or continue learning more about your current topic. I personally have encountered that situation multiple times with learning graphic design, front-end, and back-end development. Sometimes I have decided to specialize, sometimes the fundamental knowledge has been enough.

The goal

Generalists and specialists can both be useful in different environments. That's why it's important to know your goals and the environment you want to be part of. For a startup that's in a need of an MVP or just needs to move really fast, a full-stack developer with an ability to deliver new features single-handedly can be a huge asset. For big corporations, quality and optimization are important, thus specialists have more value.

What's the environment you want to be part of? What's your goal?

T-shaped skills

If you are experienced enough in one topic, striving for the balance between being a specialist and a generalist is my advice. The concept of T-shaped skills can be helpful here.

According to the concept of T-shaped skills, the vertical part of the letter represents the depth of your skills and the horizontal part of the variety of other areas you can work in. In his article "The T-Shaped Person: Building Deep Expertise AND a Wide Knowledge Base", Ransom Patterson put it nicely:

I like to think of the T-shaped person as an improvement on the classic saying “Jack of all trades, master of none.” A T-shaped person is a “Jack of many trades, master of (at least) one.”

And that's what I believe one should eventually strive for - "a Jack of many trades, but a master of at least one". I know that keeping yourself up-to-date with various topics is hard and in order to be a good specialist, you should be focused. But once you have put in the hours, learned in-depth about one thing, and covered the fundamentals of others, jumping around between various areas is much easier.

Find your way

In the end, I'm in no position to tell you whether to be a generalist or a specialist. Regarding web development, I suggest that in the beginning, you focus on one area, and later start adding other disciplines, while also crafting the skill of the first area. This way, you form a T-shaped skill base.

Remember, that in the end, it's you who decides. And it's you who has to take an action.