My career to date has been interesting and broad: I have worked for large business, multinationals, government and small business in domains from retail, manufacturing, law and science. I even worked as a barman and occaisional bouncer. This has given me a great appreciation for the big picture and how things fit together. I could not be here now if I had not had all of the experiences that I had (i.e. I learnt a lot)

Generalisation vs. specialisation was not a conscious debate I had early on. I studied chemistry at university because it was what I was good at. By the time I was into my second year I knew that it was unlikely that I would find a job I like with middle of the pack grades. I enjoyed chemistry but it was not what I wanted to do. After graduating I took a contracting job as a lab tech; what else could I do with a BSc.?

While working as lab tech I relised that what I probably should have done a mechanical engineering degree instead (although now that doesn’t look so attractive).

Fortunately I had a really great boss in one job who changed my outlook. He convinced me to study management. So the next day I enrolled and did a post-grad diploma (over 4 years).

Now I consider myself a “Specialist Generalist”. I take pride in the fact that I know a lot about a lot. This is not to say that I know it all; I a room full of experts there are obvious shortcomings, but again that is an opportunity to learn.

Richard writes about the down side of being a generalist. It’s not all bad.

The way I see it there are 3 main career functions: specialist, generalist and manager. The way the world is managers get paid the most. Generalist the least (that is a huge generalisation of course). However, the generalists are far better placed to become managers than the specialists. (Some would argue that is not a good thing, but do you really want ot be at the bottom of the job food chain?)

Specialisation is OK as long as you have a broad enough view to realise when your speciality is changing (and change with it), otherwise you can become obsolete. They don’t pay generalists big bucks, but long term security can be better.

P.S. I also played rugby. I was a utility everything. I played every forward position except hooker and every back from 2nd five-eighth out. Loose head prop or wing is where I played the most.