I think you are going to have incompetent people at either side of the spectrum. You could argue that generalists are multi-handed specialists / or that specialists do not have sufficient understanding of surround areas. You could also argue that generalists do not have enough technical understanding or patience to pursue a given specialism.
It ultimately comes down to how must time and effort people are willing to invest in understanding their acclaimed subject. IMHO, you can not encapsulate peoples skill level at a 100 foot view of there depth into the subject. You need people in both sides of the field. Generalists to have enough knowledge to understand where organisations should focus efforts. Specialists to focus on that area and have deep technical knowledge of that area to ensure a quality work is performed. In my view, generalists make good sales people, specialists get recognised in the security field for there technical achievements. Shane 2009/8/16 Raffi Jamgotchian <[email protected]>: > Hear hear. Whether a generalist or a specialist, hubris will bite you. > > ---- > Raffi > > On Aug 15, 2009, at 10:35 PM, Michael Douglas <[email protected]> > wrote: > >>> jack of all trades messed up the environment >> >> OK this is the one area where I wasn't too clear on the earlier >> thread. I'm assuming that you are competent in everything that you >> say you're going to do. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. There >> are many Jerks of All Trades who will mess things up badly. >> >> >> For those who mentioned it above, yes being a generalist does tend to >> get you in the small and medium sized businesses... but there are >> exceptions... take my day job for instance. For those of you who >> don't know, I work at OCLC -- a non-profit library coop. We're what >> I'd consider large. We have over 72,000 libraries in our collective. >> We have a database with holdings information on about 1.2 billion (yes >> billion) records (books and other stuff). We have a few thousand >> servers... yet they hired me... A generalist! >> >> I'm a generalist... but a big part of my ability to get things done is >> admitting what I don't know. For instance, a big part of my skill >> with forensics is how I DON'T mess up data. If things get to hairy >> for me, I can wrap things up and call in folks who are better than me >> (and remember, there ALWAYS is someone better than you -- thinking >> otherwise is the first step on the path to destruction) >> >> knowing when to sit down and hack or when to walk away is probably the >> greatest skill anyone in computers can have! >> >> - Mick >> >> >> On Sat, Aug 15, 2009 at 2:42 PM, John Navarro<[email protected]> wrote: >>> Good point Tim! >>> Robert, I do think that a "jack of all trades" type will fit in >>> better to >>> smaller companies, whereas the specialized, from my experience, >>> seem to have >>> a better chance at getting into larger corporations. It was never my >>> intention to be "specialized", but having worked at a firewall >>> vendor it was >>> just easier to find those opportunities that required a specific >>> skillset. >>> Of course it could be that the jack of all trades messed up the >>> environment >>> and they needed someone specialized to come in and clean it up ;) >>> >>> On Sat, Aug 15, 2009 at 8:16 AM, Tim Krabec <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>>> >>>> Don't forget your specialization does not have to be computer/ >>>> program >>>> related >>>> >>>> You don't have to specialize in "forensic analysis of devorak >>>> keyboards >>>> for AS/400 systems >>>> emulating Apple IIc systems" >>>> You could specialize in database recovery for small businesses. >>>> Or BCP & >>>> DR for law offices or real estate companies. >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Tim Krabec >>>> Kracomp >>>> 772-597-2349 >>>> smbminute.com >>>> kracomp.blogspot.com >>>> www.kracomp.com >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Pauldotcom mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://mail.pauldotcom.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pauldotcom >>>> Main Web Site: http://pauldotcom.com >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Pauldotcom mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://mail.pauldotcom.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pauldotcom >>> Main Web Site: http://pauldotcom.com >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Pauldotcom mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://mail.pauldotcom.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pauldotcom >> Main Web Site: http://pauldotcom.com > _______________________________________________ > Pauldotcom mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.pauldotcom.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pauldotcom > Main Web Site: http://pauldotcom.com > _______________________________________________ Pauldotcom mailing list [email protected] http://mail.pauldotcom.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pauldotcom Main Web Site: http://pauldotcom.com
