Jack of all trades, master of none

Someone told me being a specialist is a more better than being a generalist as "Jack of all trades, master of none" and that triggered in my mind to get more knowledge about this dilemma.

The complete saying was originally “A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” Formerly intended as a compliment, the phrase means that a person is a generalist rather than a specialist, versatile and adept at many things.

I feel the jack of all trades is better than the master of one. Engineer, PCB Designer, Embedded Systems Developer, Antenna Designer, now a Cybersecurity Engineer and Instructor. I could have been just one, but I chose to be all, and when it comes to my personal life, just like my professional, I choose to do all things that I love and so should you because there's no feeling better.

For years, we’ve used the idiom “jack of all trades, master of none” as a negative. Picking a specific skill and learning to master it is believed to be more important to a successful career, than being able to turn your hand to a number of tasks.

But in today’s job market, being a generalist might not be such a bad thing. The coronavirus lockdown and record-breaking economic downturn has brought a huge number of businesses to a standstill, which has led to a surge of redundancies.

And the uncertainty of the future of some industries, such as travel, has forced many people to reconsider their employment options entirely. While specializing is never a bad thing, being able to adapt to changes in the work environment and develop transferable skills can help you weather a difficult period.

History has proven that many of the models that changed the shape of history and civilization, many of them were jack of all trades.

• The philosopher and physician Avicenna
• Imam Al-Shafi’i: Imam in jurisprudence, interpretation, hadith sciences and poetry
• Omar Khayyam: Astronomer, Mathematics, Philosopher and Poet
• Abu Bakr Al-Razi: Physician and Philosopher

And in the modern era, there are millions of models that start with each one of us working perfectly in a job, craft or specialty different from his main specialty.

The late American billionaire...Ellie Broad

The first businessman to succeed in establishing 2 of the largest and most successful companies in the world, and each of them operates in a different specialty (a company specialized in insurance - a company specialized in construction). In 2019, Forbes ranked him at number 233 in the list of the world's rich, and 78 in the United States.