Would you rather be a Jack of all trades or a specialist?

[Doc ock rokc]

So...would you Rather be a Jack of all trades and a master of none or just a master of one?

Me personaly i would rather be a Jack of all trades then a specilist. what the point of knowing nothing about a lot then a lot of nothing.

[bluestarultor]

Frankly, I AM largely a jack of all trades and it generally serves my purposes. Obviously, some trades are given more focus than others, but I'd like to think of myself as less of a "programmer" and more as a "programmer, former pharmacy student, writer, pixel artist, and indy game-maker, with adequate knowledge of various martial arts to fight if I have to and an ability to use nearly any weapon you hand me," plus a ton of other stuff. People who are really good at only one thing have a name. Savant. I'd rather be a well-rounded individual.

[Kim]

I'd rather be a master of one thing, and that thing would be making bread game design.

[Fenris]

I'm a musical specialist. I wish I had more talents, but I think I can make some money in music and I'd rather not have difficulty finding a job in any particular field than only having one to rely on.

[Truce]

Can't I just be Jack Bauer?

Things would be so much easier that way.

[Eltargrim]

A jack of all trades is a master of none.

I'd like to be a jack of many trades, thanks. Means I can still master one or two :D

But for serious, I'm probably going to end up specializing and sub-specializing in my chosen field, while still maintaining a working knowledge of things that are only tangentially related. I'm definitely going to keep my First Aid current, and one thing I've sworn to myself is that I will stay current on the subjects of civil liberties and, to a lesser extent, the current geopolitical situation. I don't really foresee myself going out and really doing anything about it, but the current culture of apathy that you can see quite plainly in much of Canada and the United States is appalling. You then have those who are willing to rationalize anything the government has done, is doing, and is going to do simply because "they're the government." Gah. Makes me sick.

Sorry for the rant; recent developments with my government, on all three levels, have made me a bit irate.

[Unprodigy]

I'm a master of unlocking.

[Sir Pinkleton]

I kinda like being a jack of all trades, and more than just the knowledge aspect. By dabbling in many different things, I meet very different people, and through them gain even more knowledge, along with friendship. I think that'd be more handy for me than trying (and ultimately failing, I'd think) to be the best at any one thing. Unless that thing is being awesome, then I'd totally specialize in that.

[Donomni]

I share the kind Sir's sentiments.

Although I'm not good at multitasking too well, I like having a lot of options open at once.

It's why I still play RDM in FFXI.

[Funka Genocide]

Invariably we all end up learning disparate skill sets throughtout our personal and professional lives. However, given the limitations of human endeavor, if we want to be professionally successful we ultimately begin to specialize. Which isn't to say that we forget everything we knew about everything else, or that we don't continue to grow in those capacities, but that a small skill set will begin to dominate our professional progression.

We are defined socially by our occupation, our associates and our accomplishments. Even if our passion lies in writing children's books or golf, if we went to medical school it's likely we'll be labeled a Doctor by the world at large.

I suppose the long and short of it is that we're both, and that's just fine with me.

[CelesJessa]

I'll just be good at everything, mmkay?


"Everyone should know everything about at least one thing, and at least one thing about everything"
A quote I particularly like. I would like to think I have many talents, but I'd rather be really good at at least one thing than average at everything. (Plus, what's to say you can't be above average at many things as well as your one or two specialties?)

[Amake]

I settle for nothing less than being the master at everything. Especially humility. No, with Asperger's Syndrome, I'm actually designed by nature to cultivate a very narrow skillset to such an extreme degree that I have to depend on people around me to fill my earthly needs. I have a theory that people like me emerge as society develops the capacity to handle us draining it, to encourage advance.

It follows that you shouldn't be asking if you want to be a jack of all trades or a king of one, but rather which would benefit society more. Of course to do that you have to put the needs of others before yourself. . .

[Nique]

I've been developing a really bad brainstorming habit lately. My free time is spent developing new ideas and interests and projects, then filing them and starting even NEWER ideas and projects. The reason I say this is a bad habit is becuase rather than research what classes I need to take this fall or job hunt, I brainstorm.

I've always had varied interests but I crave focus. If I could just complete one project, I'd be happy. Since I can't seem to stop thinking and brainstorming, I've been looking for a way to make money from my ideas.

Currently I'm starting preliminary work on a RPG PvP Game, a Band, Pixel-Art, a Book, a Webcomic-or-3, blogging, ideas for some videos for my Youtube account, and then of course a way to build these concepts into websites I can network and advertise on/for.

I really would like a lot of skill in just one area, then I could have a harem of people with other talents to complete other concepts for me.

[Kepor]

I have a theory that people like me emerge as society develops the capacity to handle us draining it, to encourage advance.


That's the basic premise of agriculture leading to the establishment of permanent settlements and eventually cities and civilization. An increase in food production means there are people doing things other than getting food, such as craftsmanship or art or the like.

Y'know. People like you. I kid, I kid.

Anyway, there's the argument that specialization occurs due to increasing competition within a field. In order to maintain a livelihood, a cobbler has to be better than the guy down the street. In a small town, though, you could see a cobbler/tailor/auto rental/septic repair shop, because there isn't competition in those fields.

[EVILNess]

Jack of all trades, master of none, though often better than a master of one

[Nique]

By that logic I should make a pixel-art webcomic about a band and then also make the music that the band plays and maybe one of them has a book and maybe one of them is trying to go back to school to better himself? :/

[Kepor]

The ultimate goal of the jack of all trades was to become a polymath, someone with enough experience in multiple fields to incorporate various principles to create something new or different. Leonardo da Vinci is probably the most famous example of a polymath.

So go for it!

[Viridis]

I don't like committing to just one thing and measuring myself by it. I think a lot of varying interests are important.

[bluestarultor]

By that logic I should make a pixel-art webcomic about a band and then also make the music that the band plays and maybe one of them has a book and maybe one of them is trying to go back to school to better himself? :/

BRILLIANT! \o/

Just kidding, but no, actually, that could be pretty cool. o_0



At any rate, I, too suffer from idea influx. A lot of them used to be books, but now most of them are games. Some have actually turned into both! XD

Really, though, write it all down. You never know when it might be useful. I've come up with ideas from out of the blue that I actually might be able to implement based on what I'm already doing, which is how my DOS-style game got its start. Most of the graphics are toned-down versions of tiles I made at random when I was bored just before I got into programming, then decided I'd make into a game after my first VB class. Said original game has grown immensely as I got new ideas that worked for it, both in the style of the tiles (the originals were all in the default palette in MS Paint and now might pass for GBA quality in many cases), the number of tiles, the game mechanics, and everything else. There's a lot that I can do with the system's base now, and it's currently being used for two projects for sure and a potential third, plus a few others that got dropped along the way. If I can totally run away with a bunch of tiles I did in MS Paint and make two games for sure out of it, I imagine other people can come up with some really great stuff if they only write it down and give it a little love every once in a while.



Actually, that's probably not the best example. A better one is that good stories don't get written in one draft. I've been working on some of mine for years and have refined some of them into much better products. Actually, I'm currently reviving one of my older ones that was dropped because it just didn't work out. With newer ideas, I think it's becoming a much better product than the strange, self-inserted book I had an idea for in high school.

[Loyal]

I get bored by repitition far too easily to consider myself, past, present, or future, a master of any one thing. While I'd consider myself specialized in art first and foremost, even that much is far too generalized, and far too suspectible to habitation in its diversity to get anything worthwhile out of it.

For instance, right now I'm in the phase where I want to create a Warcraft 3 map, using an idea that I wrote up ages ago. My goal is to learn how to work with JASS properly, and to get at least one full, working version of the map up. I don't know how long this will last or how long it will take, but after I've done this I suspect I'll return to doodling with pencils or somesuch.

[Dular]

I'll simply master my jack of all trades and see how that goes.

[Sithdarth]

I find I have an uncanny ability to pick up just about any skill relatively quickly. Generally with a little work I can even get slightly above average. The one major problem is that this particular ability is limited mostly to mimicry. In that I have no creative ability what so ever. I cannot for the life of me actually form a mental image. When I recall a memory of something it usually comes back as words. In short, I'm extremely good at following instructions but find it basically impossible to do anything without instructions or a reference. Every time I attempt to write something I find myself copying the style of the author of the last thing I read. I also tend to almost instantly forget a skill when I no longer use it everyday. This isn't much of a problem since I can pick it back up in under an hour usually.

I'm not sure if you could call me a Jack of all trades but I'd totally give up what I can do for the ability to actually create something original.

[BitVyper]

I'll simply master my jack of all trades and see how that goes.

It unlocks Jedi.

Er, if you do it in the right order, of course.

[Whomper]

Being the very competitive person that I am, I'd have to be a specialist. In whatever I seek to do, I want to be the very best I can be at it.

[Azisien]

I think I'll go with specialist because we have WAY too many jacks around here.

[Doc ock rokc]

I find I have an uncanny ability to pick up just about any skill relatively quickly. Generally with a little work I can even get slightly above average. The one major problem is that this particular ability is limited mostly to mimicry. In that I have no creative ability what so ever. I cannot for the life of me actually form a mental image. When I recall a memory of something it usually comes back as words. In short, I'm extremely good at following instructions but find it basically impossible to do anything without instructions or a reference. Every time I attempt to write something I find myself copying the style of the author of the last thing I read. I also tend to almost instantly forget a skill when I no longer use it everyday. This isn't much of a problem since I can pick it back up in under an hour usually.

I'm not sure if you could call me a Jack of all trades but I'd totally give up what I can do for the ability to actually create something original.

I guess we are two of a kind. if i see somebody do something i can mimic them kinda for a while but even then it slowly sinks into the stuff i already know forming a diffrent deal like in bowling i usual bowl strait but if i see some one curve the ball into a strike i can do the same just afterwords after that the two styles try to mix and i end up ruining my good game of bowling Or in art if I am drawling cartoon like sketches then i see a realistic sketch I can draw realistically for a while but then it sinks slowly back into my old style with slight improvements. But where you absolutely get the ability i have to "earn" it in order to keep it and i can come up with my own original ideas (that frequently fall into writers/artiest block T_T)

[Zilla]

JoAT FTW. That means you are adaptable, and that's more useful.

Specialists are for twinks.

[Masaki-kun]

I'm decently good at a lot of things. I'm not very good at anything. I'm kinda stuck in red mage mode.

[Kepor]

Current society is more geared towards the specialist than the jack of all trades, mainly (in my opinion) because a company can employ several specialists to cover a similar range as a jack of all trades, and with more expertise (read: productivity).

Ideally, this is how the process would work. Unfortunately, people have the annoying habit of getting sick and needing time off. If everyone in a company is a specialist, just a few missing people can cripple the company. Basically, it's a trade off between flexibility and productivity.

And again, people can fall into the trap of being over specialized, and have no idea how to adapt to other areas. Which would have a negative impact on productivity.

So, yeah.