Jack of All Trades? : Blog # 136

Jack of all trades?

         It is one question that has always puzzled all the professionals in the world – To be a generalist or to be a specialist in one’s field of work. I think the days of specialization are gone.

            It is said movies are a reflection of the times that we live in. Gone are the days when an actor used to be a comedian throughout his/her life. Such days are also in the past when one was a character actor and another person was a pure commercial star. Today’s actors are expected to do it all – Hero, Villain, Comedian, character actor et al. Such is the expectation from a professional too. One should be able to double up and step in to various roles in ones field of expertise. Sticking to one specific role for a prolonged period of time might sound the death knell of one’s career.

There was a time when the roles in films were much defined. The characters those days were black and white. Likewise, the kind of work that was being done was also very well defined. There was no overlapping of roles at all. Today, the characters have a bit of grey shade in them. It is not that a Hero will be completely positive and a villain will be truly despicable. Similarly, a person cannot be confined to his/ her job description alone. One is always expected to go over and beyond. One is expected to have a bit of knowledge in the related fields as well.

Having said this, there are fields where specialization is acceptable. These are such fields which are up coming and those which have the potential to be the next big thing. But one should keep in mind that even those fields will plateau one day and will go down in demand.

There is another reason for letting go of specialization. Thanks to IT, most of the work today can be automated. Technology is reinventing itself every day to the extent that jobs which where once thought to be non-automatable are becoming so. This means any skill that you possess or any process you perform can be done by a machine tomorrow. So holding on to knowing a certain process or a specific skill is close to making oneself perishable.

The key is to revive oneself continually. Learning a new skill or process is not a choice anymore. Only knowledge can make one stay relevant in today’s day and age. So for all of us who thought Thank God, School days are over, it’s time we enroll in the largest university in the universe that is Life.

Arun Babu. 

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