But occasionally someone is brave enough to stand up for generalists.  Each case has valid points to be made for it.  Rather than just picking the side that supports what I already believe or what I had already decided on, I decided to get a sample of arguments from either camp to weigh them out side by side.

In short summary, I found nine articles on the topic.  I don’t contend these are the most definitive articles on the topic, I just went “googling” for relevant articles.  I didn’t purposely go out to find an equal number of articles supporting either side, just kept searching for decent articles written coherently and were based on some thought and experience.  I skipped over rants that seemed to be based on one experience and driven by emotion more than anything else.   I didn’t keep track of how many articles supported each side before I was completely done and already started writing this blog, but surprisingly, they balanced out perfectly.  Of nine articles I had three that clearly leaned toward specialization, or was at least written to tout the benefits of it.  There were three that really took an even handed approach and didn’t absolutely favor one over the other.  And finally, the remaining three I would consider to be in defense of generalization.  I will provide a brief description of the articles grouped by their respective positions.

For the case for specialization, the first article I found(footnote – 1.) urges specialization because you are more likely to get hired on.  Employers hire you based on your ability to solve a problem, not because of the breadth of your knowledge.  Whatever 10 languages you know, they already have people who are skilled in nine of them, it’s just one of them they are hiring for today.   The second article(2) does not provide all that much that the first one doesn’t.  It is written from the perspective of marketing  yourself, and how specializing will allow you to come across as an expert in something, whereas generalists will come across as being dabblers who aren’t particularly good at anything.  The third article is perhaps the best written one, and is clearly written by someone who’s been in the industry for awhile and sees the evolution of web agencies.  According to this article, as the web becomes more complex, and so do projects, agencies are starting to operate in a fashion that favors specialists much more than generalists.  Projects are run like an assembly line with each task seperated and delegated from the next.   All three of these articles seem to be geared toward those looking for a job in a corporation or bigger size web agency.

Next, I’ll skip to the three articles that lean toward being a generalist.  The first article’s(4) author says that he has worked for small teams and his flexibility, breadth of skills, and willingness to work on many aspects of a given project have been invaluable for him and the teams he has worked on.  Benefits of being a generalist include, the ability to communicate across disciplines and see the big picture, ability to relate to other members because you have experience in those positions, and the personal satisfaction of completing projects from start to finish.  This article even lists some of his personal qualities that he feels allow him to be successful as a generalist.  These qualities include: endless curiosity, love of learning, and being a control freak.  If you like the act of actually picking up a new language, than you would be much more suited to generalism than someone who likes to perfect each skill before moving on.  This type of skill is also much more suited to small teams, management positions, and freelancers he admits.  His conclusion is not that everyone should become a generalist, only if it suits your personality and career ambitions.  Even then, it is important to strike a balance, and be really good at at least one thing, but being decent at other skills will make you a great asset.  The second article(5) is pro-generalist, but because of your potential to make it in a management position.  Project managers and creative directors don’t need all the specialized technical know how as much as they need people skills and knowledge about a lot of things that others specialize in.  The third article promoting being a generalist(6) is actually an excerpt out of a podcast from boagworld.  They come at the issue from the standpoint of what the end client wants.  This is geared more toward a freelance developer, or a producer, the person who is interacting with the client in any case.  The end client wants to be able to communicate with one person who understands the problem and can produce the solution, and are the ones to take responsibility when things go wrong.   I picture this “end client” as someone who also has to run a business and wants to hire one person who has enough knowledge to be the total solution, and advise them on everything from web design to social media, adsense, marketing, copywriting, business strategy, etc.  The last thing they want is to have to spend time hiring different specialists  and having the headache of having to integrate the work of two or more people.

The last group are articles that point out the necessity for both specialists and generalists.  The first article(7) is in reference to AGILE development.  It likens a team of developers working on a project to a sports team.  A group of generalists would never be a true success, because a baseball team needs a fantastic pitcher, a basketball team needs a stellar point guard, etc.  But a team of specialists only is too divided and communication is not as effective.  The ideal team is comprised of members who specialize in their area, but all have the ability and willingness to jump out of their primary role and pitch in on non-core tasks.   It advocates for the hybrid worker who is both a specialist and a generalist.  The next article(8) really steps back and takes a bigger picture look at the issue.  It examines and breaks down the stereotypes for each.   It makes some good points including a.)It is possible to specialize in more than one thing b.)The demand for certain specialties will change c.)The market is big enough for both specialists and generalists d.)most freelancers will wear both hats throughout their career as market conditions change, and finally e.)there is no “right” answer for any one person.   The final article (9) is actually written in reference to a career in IT, and I’m not entirely sure how well it applies to web development.  It seems to me the principles would have some level of applicability, so I decided to include it. (Note – The content being referred to here is actually located in the comments-Bruce Kay- section of this article) The article basically states that specialists have the advantage in the job market, and generalists have an advantage once they get hired on.  While the skills of a generalist may not stand out on a resume, once in a position, their ability to take on other tasks and be flexible in which projects they can work on are great for job security and being a valuable member of the team.

My conclusion

For me, the best answer is going to be a little bit of both.   I think I like the position taken in article (4) which advocates for striking a balance between the two by keeping one area as a focus so that you can be an “expert” in at least something, but not afraid to learn and take advantage of the benefits of having multiple skill sets and technologies under your belt.   I think the qualities of enjoying learning new technologies, being flexible, and wanting to work on small teams or in a freelance position describes me very well.  After the trouble of finding, reading, and summarizing nine articles on the same subject, this isn’t exactly the most profound or ground breaking conclusion.  It was worth the effort though, so now that when I hear someone passionately argue any given position, I won’t be forced to doubt my decision or path, since I have  heard all the arguments already.

Now, the task remains to decide what area I should keep as my focus…

While this is a topic that will take a whole ‘nuther blog entry to explore and discuss, I’ll lay down my initial thoughts now.  For the past while I have been thinking that PHP would probably be a good focus for me.  I thought that because I always assumed that left brained logical/analytical thinking was my strength.   But when I do that kind of stuff for too long, my brain really starts craving something a little more creative.  I think it will be very important to take these things into consideration to make the best decision.

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Article Sources:

1. http://sixrevisions.com/project-management/five-ways-to-guarantee-your-failure-as-a-web-professional/
2. http://www.smashingbuzz.com/2010/11/importance-of-specializing-a-certain-field-of-designing/
3. http://freelanceswitch.com/the-perils-of-project-management/are-you-a-specialist-or-jack-of-all-trades/
4. http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/10/in-defense-of-the-jack-of-all-trades/
5. http://www.linkedin.com/answers/technology/web-development/TCH_WDD/194904-7211472
6. Podcast from “www.boagworld.com” titled – “Generalise”
7. http://www.techmanageronline.com/2010/07/does-agile-development-need-specialists.html
8. http://freelancefolder.com/freelance-specialist-vs-generalist/
9. http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/state-of-it/specializing-or-generalizing-the-it-career-path-22822

I’m not totally sure what I would do with a wordpress site, but I hear that there is boundless opportunity for cool things to do, and I hope i can let my imagination run wild and figure out something cool to do.  Once I learn how to use it of course:)

And then, as if one new endeavour/book was not enough, I decided to buy one other book.  I’ve always had a great time creating cards, and other funny artwork(if you can really call it “artwork”), and I feel like I have really taken MS Paint to it’s limits.  I have never been able to get my hands on a copy of illustrator(expensive!!) but I know that these days there is an open source version of almost anything, so I did a little research.  I found Inkscape, which is supposedly a worthy competitor in the vector graphics market.  So the program was of course free to download, and I bought a book to go along with it.  We’ll see if I can learn and have as much fun on this as I have in paint.  I’m guessing I will..

This Thursday I will be attending my first Meetup group.  Portland Web & Design is the name, and it will be a great chance to meet and network with some other developers and designers hopefully.  Maybe I’ll learn a little something too.

Back to my coffee shop site, wow, what a project already!  It seems like the more I think and do, the more I realize there is to it.  Lots of details to think about, and lots to learn.  I’m glad I decided to learn the PHP and MySql, because that’s obviously what is needed to put together something with alot of infomation like this.  I never realized how much fun problem solving can be, because that’s what it feels like, one problem after another.  Not that problems are a bad thing, they are fun to solve, and even though it can be a little maddening spending an hour or more trying to solve one tiny little problem, I can’t think of too many other things that keep me up way past my bedtime because I totally lose track of time.  Like now.  I should be in bed.  goodnight.

In the spirit of doing things for fun, and not out of a sense of personal obligation, I have officially launched my personal project website.  It was harder than I would have previously thought to come up with an idea for something that I will (hopefully) want to invest alot of time in.  The idea is a website that serves as a directory for coffee shops.  It seems like a perfect fit right now.  A true A-Ha! kind of idea.  A perfect marriage between my desire to learn and improve in web development, and my love of coffee.  Not to mention my desire to build something that others would want to use, at least in theory, if it’s good enough.  I hope to make it all of the stuff a good website should be..  easy to navigate, good looking, useful, and sprinkled with liberal doses of my good wit.  Much more to follow I’m sure.  Anyone know how long it takes to build a website from scratch when you don’t know much and have a full time (non web related job)??

Well so far, i haven’t exactly set grandiose new goals, but rather adopted a new approach, somewhat of a new philosophy.  A new attitude to be more precise, maybe.  Rather than deciding all the goals or benchmarks I should be hitting, my approach has been to look at things more in terms of enjoyment. Radical, I know.  Instead of thinking my goal is to get this or that amount of studying/development done this week, and setting goals for all other areas of my life such as going to the gym, reading, playing guitar, etc., I’m going a little more day-to-day for now.  Each day, with whatever free time that I have, I just think about I would like to do.  The emphasis really on the like.  A subtle difference here.  It’s not as if I’m necessarily thinking, what is going to be the most fun thing exactly, but rather, balancing what I know I need to spend time on, with knowing what I can take enjoyment in doing.   Not ruining it with too much preconceived notion of what I’m supposed to accomplish, or worrying about what else I’m not doing instead.   And enjoying the fact that I get to spend time doing it.  So far, I think it’s really helping.   It’s not a magic pill that turns reading a dictionary into watching a good movie, but it definitely helps me take what can at times be frustrating or demotivating into something interesting and challenging.  It may just sound like semantics here, but anyone can attest to the difference between the two, and  that the exact same activity can cause you to feel one way on one a given day, and the other way the next.  The trick is to tell your brain which way to feel and partake in activities that will be conducive to feeling that way.

I think everyone has certain revelations of truths they rediscover throughout their life.  Maybe just patterns of thinking or part of a person’s personality.  I know this type of thinking has been that way for me.  Sometimes it may go away, but then it resurfaces.  It reminds me of a moment I will probably always remember.  When I was about 20 and I was interviewing for a job that was very monotonous, and they asked me how I would be able to deal with the boredom of it.  The job was working in a woodshop that mass produced various furniture pieces, and was very much like an assembly line in terms of my job.  I would be assigned a specific task such as sanding boards, or cutting a single shape on a bandsaw, and the jobs would last anywhere from several hours to several days.   Not really knowing much about the job, and just answering the question the best I can, I said “boredom is a choice.”  I may have elaborated slightly, but what I remember most about it is that I actually believed that, and I still believe it today.  Luckily that job only lasted a month, because it really was draining my internal fountain of happiness in a big way.  But the point is, we are much more in control of our happiness and satisfaction with things than we give ourselves credit for.

The whole point is, it is very possible to have fun more fun doing something simply because you want to,  and you set your mind to it.

Okay, that didn’t have much to do with web development in  particular, but it’s food for thought.

I have been working on a pretty basic php/mysql application which builds an HTML form that can edit fields in a database. Sounds easy, but there’s a bit to it when you don’t know any of it. That first part I can do, the second part is being a little more challenging. I am trying to be able to load a specific record into a form, that can then send that data back and update the record in the database. Each field of each recordset has a value, and to be able to echo them or post them, first a variable must be created for each field value drawn from the database. The data is first extracted from the DB with a mysql_query function. Then each field is extracted individually and assigned to a variable. The problem is coming here, I create my variable using a mysql_result function, and the parameters I am putting in are giving me errors. I am stuck at this point right now.