December 7, 2020 at 12:00 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Seeking Growth
December 7, 2020 at 3:40 pm
“Jack of all trades, master of none.” That is the phrase that first comes to my mind while reading this article. That has been my life’s story. I have worked on everything from dairies to computer construction / repair at NASA and everything that could spur from that path.
It’s nice to explore new ideas, technologies, and roles. However, while muttering around in realms you are naïve in, and stumbling along the way, it can be disheartening when you repeatedly fail for lack of knowledge in that arena. Going back to refine your skills or mentor someone on a subject you know very well gives you that boost of confidence to go back to school (so to speak) and learn more about what you don’t know.
I can only hope to achieve a master level in just one field before I die. To master one subject and be the end-all, beat-all of one topic for which all others aspire to, would be my lifelong dream come true. But with or without the job market as it is, that can be a daunting task for anyone to achieve. I don’t think that type of person would fit in anywhere in today’s industries. Nowadays, they seek that diversity in knowledge and skill level that keeps us categorized as a “Jack of all trades, and master of none.”
Just my 2 cents’ worth.
Aubrey W Love
aka: PailWriter
https://www.aubreywlove.com/
December 7, 2020 at 4:12 pm
One of the problems that I've witnessed since the fateful day of Monday, January the 18th, 2016 when I discovered that it was the supposed "Best Practice" index maintenance that was causing massive blocking every Monday due to page splits is the wealth of totally bad information published about supposed "well known" subjects that have a history of decades. This includes information in blogs, books, internet articles, presentations of all types, and even discussions on forum questions. In those, recommendations abound by Neophytes and Alumni alike and some have become "Best Practices" that actually don't qualify as even a good practice.
That becomes a real burden to folks trying to learn something new because they don't know enough to even ask questions about what is actually right. Even training by "experts" at Microsoft is sometimes woefully pockmarked by incorrect or bad information and just because a million people all agree on something still doesn't make it right.
I can say this because I'm also a victim of it.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
December 7, 2020 at 5:04 pm
...
I can only hope to achieve a master level in just one field before I die. To master one subject and be the end-all, beat-all of one topic for which all others aspire to, would be my lifelong dream come true. But with or without the job market as it is, that can be a daunting task for anyone to achieve. I don’t think that type of person would fit in anywhere in today’s industries. Nowadays, they seek that diversity in knowledge and skill level that keeps us categorized as a “Jack of all trades, and master of none.”
Just my 2 cents’ worth.
Interesting. How do you judge "master level"? Or "one field". I think so many fields are growing wider that for anyone to master the field is very difficult. Likely you can be an expert/master/guru in one section of a field, but perhaps I'm wrong. Or we're viewing "field" differently.
I'd like to be respected and trusted in a few places, or at least a few facets of fields, and I think I continually work on those. I learn lots of stuff, but I'm never going to be the person you go to for python or R knowledge. However, I can get things done, and be effective in those spaces to some extent.
December 7, 2020 at 9:07 pm
Management guru Peter Drucker would advise building on strengths rather than trying to improve weaknesses. He stated "The effective executive makes strengths productive. To achieve results one has to use all the available strengths — the strengths of associates, the strength of the superior, and one’s own strengths. These strengths are the true opportunities. To make strength productive is the unique purpose of the organization. It cannot overcome the weaknesses with which each of us is endowed, but it can make them irrelevant."
Trying to figure out the world of SQL as marketing consultant for SQL Solutions Group https://sqlsolutionsgroup.com/
December 7, 2020 at 10:44 pm
Mastery level: to know everything there is to possibly know about a given subject without the need of an outside reference.
True, you are on the mark with my point. In these times, mastering a “field” is an impossible task. There are too many variations, spin-offs, sub-categories, etc. within every field, that it would be impossible to master the field as a whole. At least in the technical world.
I remember when I was younger, in my early 20s, I knew a man that was the master when it came to oil field pumping units. There was never an issue he couldn’t resolve inside of a day at most. (Pending part availability.) In that era, these units had changed very little in the past 100 years. So, mastering them was accomplished by years of experience working on them. But a mastery was achievable.
Those units still have changed very little in the recent 50 years. So, a mastery of them is still within one’s grasp, provided you can stay with a company (or at least in that workforce) for a number of years. Much like the umbrella which has had little to no changes in the past 3,500 years. Save for the cosmetics and a few mechanical improvements.
To apply that level of mastery to today’s computer driven world would be an impossible task.
In my humble opinion.
Aubrey W Love
aka: PailWriter
https://www.aubreywlove.com/
December 8, 2020 at 6:24 pm
"Mastery" can also be an illusion... remember that "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man (even with less than perfect vision) is king".
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
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