I have read a few articles about it and got mixed responses from the internet. Some are saying generalists have the upper hand in this rapidly changing environment & for some specialists will be th...

Welcome to Consulting's Private Community

I have read a few articles about it and got mixed responses from the internet. Some are saying generalists have the upper hand in this rapidly changing environment & for some specialists will be the top earners.

What's your take on this Grapevine family?

It's important because some people like me get bored easily with monotonous work. Constantly indulging in multiple domains of work keeps us going.

Does future belong to generalists or specialists?

Does future belong to generalists or specialists?- Grapevine

Welcome to Business Roles's Private Community

I'm in business strategy and majorly worked across different startups

When looking for a new role, HRs tell me they are looking for specialized experience, or my experiences do not count as they are less than 2 years (in each company)

I like being a generalist, I have learnt much more than I think I would have in a specialist role

What do you guys think?

I have 4YOE, currently in a seed stage startup

Specialization vs. Generalist debate

Founder

It is generally perceived that being specialist take you off through the career ladder. However this notion doesn't holds up strongly in the current scenario. There is mass unemployment in the country and those who are already employed are suffering from high level of burnout. People are being kinda 'forced' by the system to work. 

Humans aptitude, attitude and feelings are dynamic in nature. One should have a mindset of being jack of all trades at least early in the career (till 36yo at least). David Epstein in his book 'Range' advocated for delayed specialisation. Unfortunately the Indian education system designed as such that it tunnels the students into forced specialisation too early in the age. (Thankfully New Education Policy -2020 introduced multidisciplinary education in higher studies)

Being generalist has it's own advantage, like it helps you discover what field you actually have talent at. It helps you to broaden up your thought process helping you figuring out what actually it takes to climb up the career ladder. It broadens up your cognitive bandwidth helping you in developing holistic approach in solving your problems even in your current domain. 

No segment works in isolation in this era globalised world. Economy is interlinked with geopolitics. Geopolitics is interlinked with technology. Technology is interlinked with popular culture. Nothing works in isolation. It's a fool's paradise to think being specialised in one domain helps you in your career growth.

Generalist vs specialist debate

Welcome to Software Engineers's Private Community

I have been working as full stack developer past 7 years in stacks like react, react native , flutter, spring boot , nest, graphql so on and so forth. So far being generalist has worked for me as I am never out of projects. However recently I met one Engineering manager who advised me to become a specialist in one domain for better growth going forward . How do you all see this specialist vs generalist idea ?

Specialist or generalist .

Tech Lead

And generalists wonder what to do with all their knowledge in all those diversified fields and why no one gives a shit about them!

Specialists run the world.

Project Manager

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

Hey folks, recently have found myself on career crossroads. Not sure what kind of career paths generalists have after certain YoE. Are there some generalists on the platform with more than 6-7 YoE who can throw light on what kind of roles are available to generalists after a certain level? Ideally, would want to look at big tech cos.

Current profile: 5yrs post mba work ex in consulting + startups.

Generalists career path

MBA grads(3+ years of exp) who are yet to find their role/vertical/industry... What is your plan? When should one develop the 'expertise'?

Generalists to specialists

Strategy & Operations

I want to quit my job and take a break. 

I Have been contemplating to do the same for almost an year but decided not to do it. So many things have happened since then

1. Layoff wave started in india
2. Got married
3. Had to move back to bangalore from hometown

Reason I want to quit is I don't feel like working , feeling bored and work doesn't interest me that much. 

I want to take a break chill for a bit but don't have guts to do the same considering market conditions ( what if I don't get a job when I am back in the market😅) 

Please give any advice on how to tackle this situation or if someone has gone through the same, would love to hear your experience. 

Also how is the product hiring currently in India? 

PS:  I do have a good runway for 4-5 months considering all expenses but I am scared to take the step

How is the market currently for product managers?

Test Engineer

Product Manager

I'm a generalist with 4 YOE, earning 17 LPA. 
Skills include but are not limited to: Nodejs, ReactJs, AWS, Jenkins, Docker and Linux. People in my company involve me in everything that requires solving problems. I have worked on multiple stacks beyond what I've mentioned and trained / guided junior to intermediate level of engineers

I'm searching for a new job, but I don't see companies having a dire need for generalists. This is partly because generalists don't command enough confidence unless deployed on a project to work their magic (or so is what I believe)

People having or knowing people in my techstack, do you think it is possible to expect a salary of 30 LPA ? Or is specialization an inevitable next step to take ? Also, how should I position myself in interviews ?

Your thoughts will be appreciated.

Jack of all trades: Any space left for generalists anymore?

Software Developer

People with growth in your title, what do you actually do and how? What skills are needed?

What do Growth professionals really do?

Software Engineer

I completed education from tier 1 colleges (MBA and Engineering both from coveted IIM and IIT). After MBA, I joined Wall Street bank and life was really good. Was enjoying the perks of a MNC although the work was also excruciating but was an overall good experience.

Left it for a startup (fast growth kida in me led this decision). Worked in the startup across multiple roles, learned a lot of new things. Tried staying away from office politics and earned a good name in the circle. But growth (read pay) was not that enticing and was not growing hence decided to leave. Was naive enough to quote this reason to business head and HR as well. Obviously it didn't go well with anyone.

Joined startup2, changed cities and joined it. The role was similar, although my manager was an epitome of a toxic manager. Was doing good but he always was able to find some or the other mistake in my work. If he would not find any mistake then he would suggest some tangential hypothesis and then reprimand me for not thinking about it. Was so toxic that I didn't take leave when my wife was hospitalized and giving birth to our child.
Tried doing everything possible but couldn't save the job and got laid off in the 1st lay off wave.

Was shattered. Confidence was at rock bottom. Tried searching for roles. Luckily I got into startup3 who had remote work at that time. Although I joined the marketing team (which was not at all related to my previous work) thus creating a mess of my profile.
Worked hard but in a "restructuring" exercise got laid off again.

Within a year 2 lay offs with random work and no concrete direction in work. 
Now searching for roles but not able to find anything suitable as I was in non-core roles and in this difficult time everyone is looking for cheap resources with 1-3 yoe and not looking for 7+ yoe with generalist profile.

Contemplating starting from zero in Marketing or learning coding/Data science so that can start my career again with right basics.

I fucked up my career

@NaivePoint62 : pls visit careers sites of any company and share with me CV and job ids, I will see if I know anybody there who can refer you.

Senior Product Manager

Growth Manager

I've been working with a private bank for the last 4 years in corporate banking. Tired with the hierarchy and operations/admin work. I did an MBA from IIT and B tech from NIT.
 
I would like to change the industry and profile. I know switching between the two would be tough but possible, but I can't work in banks anymore.
 
I am exploring career options now, to put it bluntly. I've been seeing a lot of cross-border remittance and lending startups, but considering the present situation, I don't want to risk joining an early startup.

In an ideal scenario, I would like to move to a data analyst position in an MNC. Open for suggestions

Bank to early stage startup - good move?

I see candidates with 2-4 years earning in 20LPA+ whereas sales and marketing folks who sit with 4-8LPA tops. Isn't the disparity too much?

Is tech overpaid? Why not sales or marketing?

Marketing Manager

I consider myself a jack of all trades. I run a small biz on the size. I’m quite disheartened by the lack of generalist leadership roles in companies. 

There is no natural career progression for a chief of staff. Plus, salaries for chief of staffs are not at par with CXOs. 

Is there no other way to rise up the ranks in a generalist role?

Generalist leadership roles

Director Product

Welcome to Product Managers's Private Community

Hey everyone, excited to be doing this AMA!

A brief about me, I work currently as a Director of Product at an Indian unicorn startup 

About my career: 
- Did my undergrad from IIT and then masters from an Ivy league school
- Have been in product for almost 10 years now - across 2 Indian unicorn startups and a publicly listed company

Would love to take questions on what it means to be a PM, growing within the role, building your career, and other things :) 

Will be back here at 4 pm and start replying
Shoot away!

AMA 🎙️: Hey all, I am pmsprint, Director of Product Management at a Unicorn in India!

Hello Bs & Gs, 

Thanks for a positive response to the last post: https://share.gvine.app/EDm3me9JnJSnD3d17

A quick note for today. Over the years, being a generalist, I've realized that it's very tough to know when we're bringing the right impact or not. 

In the case of Devs/Designers/Other specialists: The output is quicker and tells the story - an amazing UI/UX, or building well working products. 

For generalists, the feedback loop is much longer, it's very unclear what it will amount to (especially at startups), it's the reason why being a generalist is looked down upon, by some people. 

My realization has been this: over a 1-2 year period, when you look back at your work, it's the picking that determines how you feel about what you did. And also how others feel about how you did.

PICKING: Knowing what to work on. What to A/B test. What 0 to 1s to pursue. Should you prioritize product idea A or product idea B. Should you experiment with growth channel A or growth channel B. 
EXECUTION: Taking what you pick from 0 to 1. Knowing when to take it from 1-10. Working to make it happen. 

Eventually, most days are execution days. Whether you do good work depends on how well researched & well thought out the 'picking' was. 

So pick well, don't under-invest in that stage. Take out time every now and then to course correct. 

Know what to pick.

Does future belong to generalists or specialists?

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