This situation is somewhat of a dichotomy where if you are a generalist the old adage of "jack of all trades, but master of none" is usually rolled out as you rightly mention, however being a specialist in a given function, product, process restricts your ability to be promoted to new openings within the organization due to the lack of overall organizational ability. Some find that the specialist label comes with a greater salary, but they do run the risk of being retrenched if the area of speciality is no longer seen as required to meeting organizational strategy. Generalists are abundantly more mobile within the organization structures.
I suppose it comes down to:
1/. Better salary, perks etcetera, but potential for shorter term.
2/. Forfeit salary, and / or certain perks, for longer term job security.
"however being a specialist in a given function, product, process restricts your ability to be promoted to new openings within the organization due to the lack of overall organizational ability." - yes, agreed, I've seen that fairly often
"the specialist label comes with a greater salary" - yes, I've seen that _very_ often. The inverse also applies: I usually end up being offered a much lower salary solely because I don't come with the 'specialist' label - even though I'm often doing a lot of repair-work on what the 'specialist' has done. Sigh.
"1/" and "2/" - yep, seen both of those a fair bit too. Oh well.
This situation is somewhat of a dichotomy where if you are a generalist the old adage of "jack of all trades, but master of none" is usually rolled out as you rightly mention, however being a specialist in a given function, product, process restricts your ability to be promoted to new openings within the organization due to the lack of overall organizational ability. Some find that the specialist label comes with a greater salary, but they do run the risk of being retrenched if the area of speciality is no longer seen as required to meeting organizational strategy. Generalists are abundantly more mobile within the organization structures.
I suppose it comes down to:
1/. Better salary, perks etcetera, but potential for shorter term.
2/. Forfeit salary, and / or certain perks, for longer term job security.
Interesting topic as always.
"however being a specialist in a given function, product, process restricts your ability to be promoted to new openings within the organization due to the lack of overall organizational ability." - yes, agreed, I've seen that fairly often
"the specialist label comes with a greater salary" - yes, I've seen that _very_ often. The inverse also applies: I usually end up being offered a much lower salary solely because I don't come with the 'specialist' label - even though I'm often doing a lot of repair-work on what the 'specialist' has done. Sigh.
"1/" and "2/" - yep, seen both of those a fair bit too. Oh well.