hacking and gonzo since 2000

Jack of all trades, master of none

"Jack of all trades, master of none" is an old saying, meaning that one is competent in a lot of things, but master of none. Such a person is also called a polymath or a renaissance man. A prime example of this personality is Leonardo da Vinci.

I think I am moving into becoming a polymath - a jack of all trades - and I have mostly done this out of my own will. I don't want to specialize, I want to be really good at a lot of things.

The thing I want to do is to build systems that users want to use and my dream is to build something that changes the world. In order to do so, I must master a lot of skills, namely:

knowing what users want, understanding users and their needs [that's why I find psychology really interesting]
building useable applications, creating usable designs
creating aesthetically pleasing designs
building the interface using JavaScript, CSS, HTML etc.
knowing how to scale an application, that's one of the reasons I built lightcloud
becoming a DBA
understanding business to know how to develop an idea and make it profitable. todoist is profitable
understanding analytics, viral growth
coding in Python, C, Java etc.

You can do these things with a team. But mastering these things yourself makes you much more powerful. Independent. Free.

A lot of these things can also be combined and the more you master, the more powerful you are and the probability of success becomes much higher.

Code · Life · Stuff • 12. Mar 2009

4 comments so far

ak 12. Mar 2009: I wouldn't say da Vinci was a "master of none".

amix 12. Mar 2009

ak:
I mean it in the sense that he wasn't specialized in one field. But I do agree that it's a bit fluffy writing :)

"A Jack of all trades may also be a master of integration, as the individual knows enough from many learned trades and skills to be able to bring their disciplines together in a practical manner, and is not a specialist. Such a person is known as a polymath or a Renaissance man, and a typical example is someone like Leonardo da Vinci."
from wikipedia

amix 12. Mar 2009

I don't think I made myself that clear.

The idea with this post was to state that one becomes much more powerful by learning the jack of all trades, than just to specialize in one thing - - even if that means that one isn't a master of databases or a master of python programming or a master of viral growth etc.

Atamert Ölçgen 13. Mar 2009

I'd like to add that when you specialize your thought patterns adopt your narrow expertize. If you go the other way you will have much flexibility in understanding and reasoning. (...and therefore problem solving)

This jack-of-all-trades subject reminds me of Duncan from Dune.