Today’s greatest idea: Why don’t I maintain my thoughts on the articles I read? I do sample some out of the flood of online articles published everyday and may have some thoughts of my own which I may follow up later on – for all that matters, something might stick with me for a lifetime and add to my ongoing quest to expand the perspective. So starting today I decided to keep some notes here, let me see how long I can keep this up.

Versatilists
I have been toying with the theory of jack of all trades vs master of something for some time now – I haven’t made up my mind yet and may not ever. This one is giving a name to the types – Specialists, Generalists and Versatilists. Being a specialist, knowing something in depth and to be fully confident will be a great feeling and probably we will all do this with the subjects which appeal to our passion. It need not be the field I am working in, it could be anything. I maybe interested in Ford Mustang, I may know its history, its features, latest models and ton of cosmetic information which just appeals to me tremendously. If I can find such a passionate subject in the field I am working in, it will be great. But at the same time, I do not want to get restricted to one flavor alone. But then if you are passionate about something, you will not feel restricted and will voluntarily amass more experience and information and it will not feel like a burden. But knowing other areas will just increase of knowledge level and give you more ideas to work with. Too many Buts.

There is another bit – what good can it do if a person working in software industry reads about totally unrelated area like philosophy or football. My feeling is everything is about systems and relationship, coordination, communication of parts to finally get it working. How can a team of 11 disparate people with different skills coordinate on the fly on the field and perform a miracle connection which results in a goal. It is pure beauty and there can be something to learn from that. So maybe learning about anything that appeals to my sensibilities may add to my world-view and make me wiser. I just read yesterday in some interview about kids reading just about anything – something somewhere will stick.

Versatlists maybe the middle ground between specialists and generalists – authority in certain fields, knows enough of other related areas and adaptable to change. I think being a specialist in one area gives you enough idea about how things work and that experience can be applied easily to learn new things as you go – only the fear of unknown can prevent you from learning new things, but just keep going, we can find ways to apply our past experiences to find footholds and climb faster.