Discussion on:

Poll: What's the best way to thrive in development?

... but only if it's something you can be passionate about for years.

Anymore even if you are a niche guy, you still have to be multi-faceted whether you're employed by someone else or yourself (especially yourself).

I mean, I know on a daily basis I deal with:

-Programming in 3 different syntaxes
-Scripting in 2 different DBMSes
-Working with the command sets of 2 different OSes
-Working to interface several different applications on various platforms, OSes, hardware and protocols.

If I could just be a VB6/VB.NET programmer and flourish where I live, I'd already be on my own and making a mint.

But, you gotta offer the "whole nine yards".

I don't have time for that...yet. I'm working on it tho.

Specialists are people who don't know anything else....

Not a good move career wise.

people who tend to have to do more continuous, rapid learning to maintain a specialty.

I can still get VB6 work, and it's been out what...12-13 years?

I'd rather spend my time focused on earning money rather than burning through money.

I've had people ask me about UCSD pascal, even paradox ffs.

Some people still use an abacus. I remember them as well...

I have an engineering slide, and can use it.

Find someone my age or younger who can do that, rather than use a hand calculator to determine a log.

Woe is the day there's a big enough EMP to knock out all power and batteries.

Most cashiers won't know how to add longform.

We're doomed!

"Specialization" does not always mean "single language" or even "single ecosystem". Someone could be specialized in writing device drivers, or perhaps high performance computing, for example, where the understanding of the fundamentals takes years to perfect while the languages and libraries do not.

J.Ja

by the people Jck and I refer to. He's no more of a one trick pony than we are.

I'm far from sure anyone can claim to be a specialist in any one part of IT now, not and be useful commercially.

My career longevity is definitely down to deliberately not specialising.

If, sorry, when your niche goes, so do you....

... is someone who knows more about one specific area than just about anybody else does. I qualify for that definition, but as Justin says, that doesn't necessarily make you a one trick pony. I work to expand my knowledge into many different areas, because it informs what I do in my area of expertise. I think the balance for success is to have a depth of knowledge in a few areas, combined with a breadth of knowledge across the industry.

He called me:

"Jack of all trades, master of none"

He said if I ever applied myself to anything, I would be one of the best at it.

I don't think I ever applied myself really.

Well, there was this one time...at band camp...