Ask HN: Better to be pretty good at a few things or really good at one thing?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3040242

by bennesvig • 15 years ago

11 13 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

eof• 15 years ago

Depends on what you are really good at.

I think this really depends on your goal. Do you want to excel in a particular field? If so, you should pick one thing, and focus on it. Do one thing well.

Being a jack of all trades, and master of none is more suitable for managers.

I wrote a blog post about being an expert at something, if you're interested: http://philipthrasher.com/2010/04/11/want-to-be-an-expert.ht...

codeslush• 15 years ago

This is entirely dependent on what you do and what your goals are.

Generally, I think it's better to be really good at one thing. However, this wouldn't hold true in certain roles (think Enterprise Architect, Systems Consultant, ...). In different roles, it can be extremely valuable to have a broad, not necessarily deep, understanding of the various parts in play.

What are your objectives?

trafficlight• 15 years ago

I'm definitely a jack-of-all-trades but a master-of-none. Sometimes I wish I were much better at certain things, but for the most part, I enjoy having a wide range of competencies.

maxdemarzi• 15 years ago

If you want to be an entrepreneur you have to be good at as much as you can handle. Not just your technology stack, but marketing, sales, design, finance, recruitment, training, writing, etc.

If you want to be an employee, then by all means, be top 1% of whatever technology you want and you'll always be able to find a job.

azal• 15 years ago

Agreed. I have seem some really talented developers, but they sucked at understanding business or etc. Again if you want to do a startup, you need to be a Jack of all trades, or find a co-founder who is strong where you are weak.

bennesvig• 15 years ago

Great advice, thanks.

kgc• 15 years ago

Generalists succeed as entrepreneurs (a Stanford study): http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/research/entrep_lazear_gene...

glimcat• 15 years ago

Being really good at one thing almost always involves being pretty good at a few things.

petervandijck• 15 years ago

For an entrepreneur: M-shaped: really good at a few things, and not afraid of many other things that need doing.

wmboy• 15 years ago

Leonardo da Vinci has shown that it's possible to master more than one thing.

(mind you, how many Leonardo da Vinci's are there in the world?)

waqf• 15 years ago

The world has easily ten times the population it had in Leonardo's time, and also is probably less than 100% effective at discovering such people.

So at a conservative estimate, I'd say there are hundreds.

md1515• 15 years ago

I feel like I am a jack-of-all trades type of person too. Many people say that is a disadvantage, but I recently read an article on entrepreneur.com about some famous guru saying a CEO of a startup needs to be good at a lot of things instead of great at one thing. Made me feel a lot better....

Ask HN: Better to be pretty good at a few things or really good at one thing?

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