Generalists or Specialists

🍎 Today's Expression

Vocabulary

- hone: 연마하다 (to make more acutue or effective)

- definitive: 확정적인, 최종적인 (clearly defined or fomulated; of recognized authority or excellence)

 

Pronunciation

- Approach (you're saying '아-pperch'): '으-ppr오ch'
- People: Don't forget to extend the 'E'
- Monitor: '마-nitor'

- Team (you're saying 'Tim'): Extend the 'E' sound
- Soft: 's아ft'

- Management (you're saying 'maneegee-m으nt'): 'manihge-mint'

 

 

👩🏻‍🏫 Overall Feedback

Hi, it was great seeing you again! I enjoyed talking to you about our topics. Some areas to work on are pronunciation and vocabulary expansion. We can work on these areas in future lessons as I introduce more terms through my paraphrasing. I also suggest that you go back to our Lesson Notes and work on the words we went over pronunciation-wise.

 

✍🏻 In-depth Feedback

1. Do you consider yourself a generalist or a specialist? Why?

To be honest, I approximate a generalist rather than a specialist, which is my career objective. As an article said, the specialist can hone their craft and make perfect it through practice and experience, but it is the same word that they won't have many opportunities to expand their career. That is why I want to be a generalist. I want to become a developer who has good engineering skills, leading someone, and making content for general people who don't know about the IT industry.

→ I aspire to be a generalist rather than a specialist because specialists pigeonhole themselves into a niche that can be hard to break out of. Therefore, I would like to become a developer with good engineering skills. To sum things up, I would like to become a specialist in the overall career market, but a generalist in the engineering field. 

 

2. Which do you think is better in your job, a generalist or a specialist? Why?

In my job, a software engineer, who is close to a specialist. Because engineers or developers have to have special technology skills to develop applications or websites. Their goal is to make a better world through technology that general people cannot easy to approach. Of course, some developer has general skills, such as making application as well as website. However, it is a very special skill for general people who are not working in the IT industry.

→ As you know, software engineers are specialists by nature because they need specialized skills to perform their work. A part of the reason why coding skills are specialized is that the software engineering field has a high barrier to entry. 

 

3. Have you ever concerned about becoming a generalist at work? Why or why not?

 Yes, I have concerned about becoming a generalist in my work. When I was a marketer in a small startup, I was forced to do Customer Management, HR, and operating organization besides marketing. That is why I moved to a startup where can give an opportunity to work as only one person who can work as a marketer.

→ I am not a fan of being a generalist. When I worked as a marketer for a small startup, I was like a Swiss Army Knife; I had to work as a customer manager, HR representative, and operator all in one! Therefore, I moved to a company that would let me concentrate on marketing. 

 

4. What is the proportion of specialists and generalists in your workforce? Why do you think that is?

In my previous workplace, the proportion of specialists and generalists is 40-60. I think salesperson, marketer, and customer experience manager is close to a generalist because they often move their team depending on the business situation or their soft skills. However, developers and designers rarely move teams or change their job, because they have special skills. Their job is defined by their hard skills, such as designing fancy things or using technology stacks that general people hard to have.

→ In my previous workplace, we had a 40 to 60 ratio of specialists to generalists. I think people with soft skills, like salespeople or marketers, have generalist skill sets. However, people with technical skills, such as design, have specialist skills.

 

📔 Today I learned

- Leech (verb): 기회주의자, 프리라이더 등 = they get free benefits and use others

- Wear many hats: 많은 역할을 하고 있는 = have many responsibilities/roles

- Pigeonhole: 명사로는 우편함을 뜻하지만, 동사로는 '분류하다, 묵살하다, 파고들다' 라고 쓰이기도 한다. (e.g. Don't pigeonhole us = 우리를 단정짓지마)