It's generally recognized that getting ahead in a career requires dedication to attain excellence, expertise or mastery in that domain. It's estimated that 10,000 hours is a general rule to master a field.
Source
This is the specialization that has led to the progress of civilization. Imagine if everyone was doing things on their own. All of our time would be spent in doing everything ourselves. But, when we outsource and specialize our own talents, and then exchange with others, we tend to have extra time left over.
Specialization allows faster progression as a species/culture and saves us time in our daily lives, in general. But what are the costs?
Specialization tends to focus all learning on one thing, or immediately adjacent related topics to enhance the primary field. Although mastery of a particular field may be had, the overall mastery of integrating several bodies of knowledge about reality into a syncretic view, may be lacking.
When learning from many trades/fields instead of just one, we are able to link the individual disciplines into a holistic practical approach to life in general. Over-specialization can be a detriment. Let's not forget how compartmentalization works in organizations, whether corporate, military or political, information and decisions are compartmentalized often on a need-to-know level of secrecy. Certain information is power.
There is the phrase:
"Jack of all trades, master of none".
This is to reference a general competency in all abilities as opposed to one in particular.
The phrase can also be changed to blend specialization and general competency as:
"Jack of all trades, master at some."
This way, you can be competent in general, while also being a specialist in one or a few fields where you surpass the knowledge of the general person.
Think of it like being a Swiss Army Knife, or Boy Scout. You're always prepared and competent to deal with anything because your array of knowledge spans a large area.
In some situations, nonexperts can make better predictions than experts. Not predictions about a highly specialized task like surgery, but of contemporary problems that require thinking across a spectrum. Narrow vision can block seeing the forest from the trees. The "wisdom of the group" also works this way sometimes.
Being neither a pure generalist or pure specialist, means being in a new category called polymaths. Generally, this is when you branch off into other domains after having specialized in one field of study. Another term is flexperts, for being flexible in the expertise you have acquired.
Humans can reach their fullest potential, not by revering a specialist compartmentalized way of living, but by broadening to understand reality in more ways to integrate a larger view of how things function overall. There is much variability, multiplicity and diversity in existence and life. Having more broad general skills, rather than less skills but more specific, can be very advantageous.
There is too much to know in the universe. Breaking things up and choosing one thing over another (i.e. scire, science, knowledge), allows us to speed up the progression of knowledge and collectively progress as a species. Dividing tasks up gives us more freedom in that way. But it also creates more dependence and therefore less self-sufficiency and less freedom as well. We depend on society to survive. Very few in the modern world are now capable of survival if society would break down. Like many things I talk about, it's dual, with both positives and negatives to each side.
What do you prefer? To know a lot about a little and be an expert, or know a little about a lot and wear many hats?
Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
References:
- Specialization (functional)
- Jack of all trades, master of none
- The Danger of Having Too Many Experts
If you appreciate and value the content, please consider: Upvoting, Sharing or Reblogging below.
me for more content to come!
My goal is to share knowledge, truth and moral understanding in order to help change the world for the better. If you appreciate and value what I do, please consider supporting me as a Steem Witness by voting for me at the bottom of the Witness page.
they have advantages and disadvantages, when it comes to computer the supercomputer can compute single task but in a very powerful and faster way like the spaceship, and mainframe computer was created because of its mutitasking ability but in slower way like banks. Nowadays in real world people mostly stick to single task because the whole team have different specific task to get the job done efficiently.
know a little about a lot and wear many hats
That's what I do and prefer because that's what works for me. If I have to know everything before doing anything then nothing's going to get done. And knowing a little about a lot is like accumulating pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to eventually solve the puzzle.
Specialization is like compartmentalization. Reminds of me the beginning of the corporate slave structure (human resources?).
Ford started it all with the Model T production. Where each task is only done by one group of people. That means no one knows how to build the car from start to finish. They only made them black because it dried fast enough to meet their production quota.
Indeed it is. That's how factories work. Specialize and compartmentalize the task. It's more efficient in terms of being a cog in a machine ;)
You've done a really nice job summarising a very complex topic, many threads to pick up on, but I'll go with the personal experience of academia....
Basically I had to quit my PhD because of lack of money and pick up teaching A-level sociology... which means I was forced into becoming more of a 'generalist' - after 16 years teaching it, I now have a very broad knowledge of a whole load of sociological issues, but without having the very specialist knowledge in any of them.
However, when I look over at my Doctored colleagues who have stayed very focused on their specialisms, I don't really see that much happiness exuding from them! Which is odd, given that they are experts in their fields.
I think within academia at least the rigours of the discipline make specialising a real chore, until people get to the top of their game (I'm thinking Giddens and Bauman in my discipline) at which point they seem to just be thinking across disciplines... bringing together philosophy, politics etc... so more of your polymath. Although to get there probably does require a deep-dive into one specialist area.
From my perspective as a generalist I've also had more scope to play around with different forms of presenting knowledge (data vizes) and so on, so it's been quite fun.
Having said that I do have one specialism - exam training, and it's nice to at least have that because it's quite lucrative!
Just the psuedo academic's perspective on the matter... trying to specialise on how it applies to one general area (tricky words those two... specialism and generalism....!)
I think that may hold in general for all specialized careers... It may get too boring to be only focused on one thing for so so long :/
It's good to have 1 or 2 specialized areas to be called upon for sure ;)
It's a hard question to answer...
I tend to know a little about everything but force myself to be an expert in my professional work.
Some people arround me are experts in their field but borring since they are not familiar at all with other fields.
In the past people could be experts in a lot of subjects i.e. Da Vinci because human knowledge was narrow, today it is impossible !
That's interesting. Is it really the past that allowed being expert in many fields because it was narrow? Why aren't there more Da Vinci's now? Someone could learn the same things, regardless of there being more things to potentially go into. I think some people like him were just unique, or they chose the right fields to syncretize together ;)
Rethinking the less amount of knowledge is part of the answer for having less polymath people in our 21 century.
Maybe the other things are the high demand for monomath persons due to the modern economy and labour market that require experts for specific area.
Could be that Da Vinci also Galileo, Aristotle or Bertrand Russell are a result of their living times.
Maybe the conditions of the modern time are less suitable to encourage growth of geniuses.
To know a little about a lot
when I bring different specialties together I need to know a little about each to make an informed decision . each expert may not know how all pieces come together . that's where I come in :)
But then again being knowledgeable about many specialities can in and of itself be a specialized expert in a so called field
Yeah, they are both useful, but when you get to have a broader picture of the landscape, you can bring in more to tie together and see things more "holistically" or in a connected way ;)
I agree that a blend of the two is best. I am too specialized as I am a musician. I feel being specialized is a double edge sword. Provided you are in the right career, you can command an income. However specialization can lead to dependence on others. it can destroy independence and create the need for larger community. Before globalization we were more generalized. Now we are a bit more specialized and globalized. Not that one has to do with the other but... Good article @krnel
Specialized and dependence, generalized and independent, yup good point. Specialization makes things more efficient in the larger social context where we cooperate. Imagine trying to do everything yourself. That's why factories in the industrial revolution boomed because they separated tasks into parts which made things go quicker and got more done ;)
Actually i think that both generalization and specialization are required.One can not stick on one particular things because in today's era you should be known all the basic things about any subject.If we take one example that person occurs some symptoms on his skin then we first go to the physician not to a surgeon.
In our daily life both the things are necessary.In the point of Generalization we should be in above average in all stuff.Why because we cant help our life style being as specialization.If Person is specialist in accounting or family budget planning then remaining things like family events and spirituality goes dump.
In point of specialization we cant help our business and profession being generalization,Why because little bit knowledge will not serve any purpose in that particular era.So, we need specialist in that area.
Yeah, specialize in one or two things, but have general knowledge in many other things.
Exactly 👍
For me, to like something is no more because it starts from curiosity. When curiosity began to play my head. I will search for and keep digging information. Until until I really understood what I was looking for. After all that was answered then for me enough just know a lot about a little.
Be curious, that leads learning new things and in different areas, good method.
The problem is it would probably be psychologically healthier for a lot of people to be generalists. I base this on the fact that humans evolved in small groups consisting of 100-200 people. There wasn't nearly as much specialization as there is now.
I agree. You can be more self-sufficient and independent, gotta be ready to deal with things yourself and have more knowledge about various ways to go about it.
Not just that but the modern level of specialization has created a lot of jobs that bore people out of their minds.
For me I prefer I know little and be a expert on that field, because if you are an expert in that field you will be more recognize and the people will trust your judgment at all times but if you are jack of all trade then you will be master on non and when it comes going deep in to the field you will not be call upon to make such judgement. Great post @krnel
Good point. But also if you want to be able to do things outside of that field, generalization is useful. Experts are stuck in one area, but they are really good at it ;)
Definitely cover the basics of many fields will make you stand out in any medium, work in the oil industry, my career is based on oil as a specialization, when I began to work I found many variables that are not learned in college, I had to study all the premises and conditions that influence the exploitation of oil, currently I am not an expert, but i feel that i am handling the geology, the fluid conditions, the pressures, the characteristics of the rocks and even the surface conditions that determine the best exploitation of a deposit, it is there where i agree that it is better to know a little about everything and not just be an expert in just one thing, diversify your knowledge, also diversify your economy and at the same time your freedom, happy night.
Excuse my English, I use a translator.
Yup, diversity in knowledge is good to have and applies in mary ways throughout life ;)
Variety and redundancy are important. I think both methods have validity.
Yes they do :)
Personally I am very curious person, so I have tendency to learn new stuff, but as I see it's not very practical, but I am just bored to do one thing
Do you have difficulty getting focused on one thing? Do you think you need varying stimulus to keep your attention interested?
I believe I have some form of ADD
It all depends on the particular situation which is better. I lean towards jack of all trades.
Hehe, yeah it's useful to be able to do many things, even if you're not the best int he world at them. You can be more self-sufficient ;)
Yes. If there is only one perfect way to get something done, then specialists would be best. Most of my experience is in construction and there is never a perfect way. Consequently, the ability to move forward imperfectly is essential to progress. As you stated in your post, the understanding of how each task fits with the ones before and after can make all the difference.
Well its cool to be expert in one aspect but having the general idea as well gives one an added advantage in some situations
Yeah in reality both have their merits