Career Discussion: Specialist vs Generalist
To this point in my career (18 years in), I have mostly been a Specialist at my company, have done really well, rose through the ranks and am super critical to a wide range of initiatives. I have done some generalist work, and am pretty good at that too (putting my non-TCU MBA to use) but too many things fail if I am not the lead Specialist.
At the same time, the people who do Generalist work suck at it and it drives me nuts. I have the opportunity to transition into a Generalist role, leading a pretty big chunk of the business forward, and taking over P&L responsibility for a major line of business.
I'm intrigued by it because I hate dumb and failure... but also suspect once you leave the specialist side you can never go back....
Comments
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If you ever want to start your own business and / or be a CEO, then do it.
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The good generalists already left the company to work for themselves.whlinder said:Trying to make this not TL;DR
To this point in my career (18 years in), I have mostly been a Specialist at my company, have done really well, rose through the ranks and am super critical to a wide range of initiatives. I have done some generalist work, and am pretty good at that too (putting my non-TCU MBA to use) but too many things fail if I am not the lead Specialist.
At the same time, the people who do Generalist work suck at it and it drives me nuts. I have the opportunity to transition into a Generalist role, leading a pretty big chunk of the business forward, and taking over P&L responsibility for a major line of business.
I'm intrigued by it because I hate dumb and failure... but also suspect once you leave the specialist side you can never go back....
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People who are good at the generalist/manager/leadership side are rarer, but have higher ceilings and better opportunities than even the best specialists in an organization. I suspect you could always go back to being a specialist, btw. It's more likely that you won't have another opportunity to try your hand at being a generalist.whlinder said:Trying to make this not TL;DR
To this point in my career (18 years in), I have mostly been a Specialist at my company, have done really well, rose through the ranks and am super critical to a wide range of initiatives. I have done some generalist work, and am pretty good at that too (putting my non-TCU MBA to use) but too many things fail if I am not the lead Specialist.
At the same time, the people who do Generalist work suck at it and it drives me nuts. I have the opportunity to transition into a Generalist role, leading a pretty big chunk of the business forward, and taking over P&L responsibility for a major line of business.
I'm intrigued by it because I hate dumb and failure... but also suspect once you leave the specialist side you can never go back.... -
My brother started out of college as an engineer for SonicCare and now is a Six Sigma black belt who coordinates large project expansions for a major healthcare company.
He made the move about 10 years into his career within Philips and it eventually led to him being able to move from Seattle to Montana 4 years ago.
He volunteered for some “generalist” opportunities at Phillips which in reality expanded his business contact base to levels he never had as a specialist for SonicCare.
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Free Pub?
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Sounds like senior individual contributor to manager.
If you can handle stress and fighting with people management is fun. you can offload the bitch work to people.
It’s not for everyone though so search yourself and assess your goals. There is no going back without some scars. -
However you get there, if you are able to manage people and larger projects, you will make more money and rise faster.
It took me a while to learn this. If you're doing a lot of work, vs. coordinating other people doing a lot of work, your ceiling is limited.
I've been the highly comp'd individual contributor. I like this better. IDGAFF what anyone says to the contrary, you don't work as hard when you're directing traffic. Yeah, it's a different kind of stress, but you get a bigger piece of the pie, you get more advancement opportunity within and outside the company, and, again, I will never believe otherwise than that you don't work as hard.
I would do it. -
Exactly this. It's why I don't think I'd work in a large company anytime soon. Just so many more opportunities being able to make a larger impact at smaller ones.creepycoug said:However you get there, if you are able to manage people and larger projects, you will make more money and rise faster.
It took me a while to learn this. If you're doing a lot of work, vs. coordinating other people doing a lot of work, your ceiling is limited.
I've been the highly comp'd individual contributor. I like this better. IDGAFF what anyone says to the contrary, you don't work as hard when you're directing traffic. Yeah, it's a different kind of stress, but you get a bigger piece of the pie, you get more advancement opportunity within and outside the company, and, again, I will never believe otherwise than that you don't work as hard.
I would do it. -
Yep. Every word of that is true.LoneStarDawg said:Sounds like senior individual contributor to manager.
If you can handle stress and fighting with people management is fun. you can offload the bitch work to people.
It’s not for everyone though so search yourself and assess your goals. There is no going back without some scars. -
I have never heard it in these fancy terms but leaders are hard to find and good leaders even harder so it pays better. Lots of folks can do the grunt work. Most of them think they want to be the boss. Until they get a taste of it.
I've been told I am a natural leader and I reckon its true since I have always been the leader and jumped to the pros from high school. But starting out it was tough because you do have to get used to being hated and you have to tell people shit they don't want to hear. I developed a thick skin for an old hippie who thought most people were decent and honest. Boy was that wrong
As a bonus 40 years ago in construction there was a physical component. My first management position had some big fuck with a big mouth who thought he could get over. I challenged him to a fight in front of the whole crew. Thank God he backed down. I've always been lucky that way.
I don't think you can fight people in 2021. Not sure though
