In a messy room, a portal opens with a peaceful sound. A mysterious, yet a look alike man appears.
Homie with confusing expressions ask the man: ‘Hey, you look familiar, who are you?’
Man: Hello, I am ‘Jack-of-all traders’. You can call me, Jack. And you are?
Homie: Who am I… I am… oh, yes, I have won, I just got my Masters Degree in Specializing of specialists. So, I’m the ‘Master-of-One’.
Jack: Okay, Mr. Specialist.
Homie: Look, being a specialist is great. I just dedicated many years of my life into mastering one thing. Now, I have a certificate to show and many companies need me. They are willing to pay top dollars for my specialty. You must be thinking, why? Because, true experts are much harder to find.
Jack: Okay, sure, I ain’t going to argue with that, but, you should consider the pros of being a generalist. Firstly, they are hirable across multiple industries and places. Secondly, your specialist skills pay well, but it also makes you vulnerable.
Homie: Vulnerable? I don’t think so. I’m a specialist Mr. Jack.
Jack: Yes, vulnerable to rapid changes. Furthermore, generalists are better at making connections in various fields.
Homie: Ahhhh, any example to back up your little claim?
Jack: Sure Mister, an American airplanes manufacturer conducts test on hypersonic flights. He notices that raindrops will erode the plane internally and externally through shock waves. This finding further lead to the invention of shock waves technique to break kidney stones without a surgery. So, an observation in planes goes on to change the vastly different fields.
Homie: But, come on, it was probably a specialist who created the technology.
Jack: True again, but, if you do not expand your field of knowledge as a specialist, you will forever be stuck doing one task. Imagine, you had picked up additional soft skills, you would probably be well experienced and paid more too.
Homie: How is it even possible? Is it that effective?
Jack: As a generalist, you have to know just enough for it to count.
Homie: Define just enough.
Jack: Nice one, read books.
Homie: Why not just google it? Maybe, Wikipedia or reading few articles online to be efficient with your time to consume the good stuff.
Jack: When you pick up a book, chances are it’s been through rounds of revisions to make it lean and pure efficient information.
Homie(with Gloominess): So, I have wasted all these years, studying one thing. In order to get a useless piece of paper.
Jack: Honestly, No. I’m a bit jealous of you. Just imagine, being a specialist that learns to be a generalist too. All you need is to be versatile and bit more flexible. You will be future proof, diversified, well-connected and still a master.
Homie: Thank you, Jack. It is a great piece of advice.
Jack: One last thing, then, I take a leave.
Homie: Yes?
Jack: Avoid being a thinker of all trades, master of none and conqueror of confusion!
A portal opens once again and Jack is gone.
So, would you like to be a Jack-of-all or Master-of-one.
Regards 😇
