Mastery of one or knowledge of many?

There are many knowledgeable computer/network techs can easily be described by the old phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none”. Of course, there are those that are masters of a “trade” (specialist). It brings to mind the question, “Which is better: General knowledge or Specific Mastery?”

When it comes to finding a job, general knowledge is more often than not the winner. The reason being is that there are usually more jobs in a given market that only require general skills (e.g. phone support, PC tech) versus jobs that require special certifications like CCNA and MCA. These types of jobs also tend to expose the person to even more technology so that their general knowledge keeps building with new hardware and software releases.

The down side of sticking with general knowledge only is that these positions are almost always on the lower end of the pay scale. It usually requires moving into a specific support role, almost becoming a specialist, to jump up the pay ladder.

A specialist could be described as a “Jack of some trades, master of one (or two)”. These are the people that have earned high level certifications, like the two mentioned previously, or have worked in a specific field for many years. The general knowledge they have may not cover nearly as much as someone that stays in a general skills position. This is because the jobs this person has tends to focus their daily task toward their specialty. The person tries to keep on top of their specialty, i.e. obtaining or updating their certification, instead of learning more about everything else on the network.

Specializing has it’s own draw backs. The main one being the lack of employment opportunities. These positions can be more difficult to land than the general knowledge positions because they tend to require more experience. The upshot, though, is that these types of jobs push the needle up the pay scale.

So what is someone wanting to work with technology to do? I say they should take their time (not too much, though). I haven’t met many people that stayed in a general tech field. They have all worked in a tech support type position and found their niche. I have met quite a few people that wished they would have waited a little while and chosen a different certification. They saw the big dollars promised with the certification but found out that passing a few test, a piece of paper and no experience didn’t get them close to the job they hoped for until years later (if ever).

Keep in mind that specializing isn’t all you need, either. A strong general background will make you a more valued potential employee because you can help in other area’s of the business (i.e. PC repair), not just one part of the network (i.e. routers), if needed. Several employers also assist with, or completely cover, the cost of advanced training for employees. That’s a double bonus because you save the cost of the training and will have a better chance at higher pay.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance. – Confucius

25.Jul.07 General, Technology

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4 Responses to “Mastery of one or knowledge of many?”

Rick | July 29th, 2007 at 1:58 am
I agree with your post 100%. I started in the general tech area and after awhile of that moved on to security and pen testing. My 2 master trades would be security and Linux programming though I still try and keep up with most areas of tech because a security specialist is a bit unique, they must know what differences occur in many areas of the profession.

Mind you not unlike many other people involved in tech geared trades I’ve done a 360 and am building a totally different kind of business.
Cody aka CX | July 30th, 2007 at 11:18 am
I’ve dropped off the radar, but I’m still learning everyday. I agree, I’m definitely leaning towards specializing in network security and pen testing.

I’ve gotten off security just for a bit, to learn a few new tricks. I just got a Windows Server 2003 box up and running with Active Directory and DNS, and both are working perfectly.
wyckedone | July 30th, 2007 at 11:48 am
Dropped off the radar is an understatement.

Network security is a huge field at the moment. I also think it will be the next “MCSE”.

When the MCSE certification first came out, it was worth a lot because there weren’t many people that had or wanted it. The reason was due to the fact that there weren’t that many companies, overall, that had a Windows network. People that did take the initiative to get the certification were able to demand a higher starting salary.

The field became flooded once Windows networks started taking off in businesses. Everyone was clamoring for it because they saw big money. Some of the certified techs were just “paper MCSE”. They passed a test after studying a book but had no real world experience at all. Businesses hired them (paper MCSE’s) because they were willing to work cheaper than an experienced tech.

Long story short: Speed up the learning, get in while you can and prove that you know what you’re doing. If you take too long, there may/will be a lot more competition that will drive down opportunity and pay.
Cody aka CX | July 30th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Yeah, I’d hate to see Network Security go the way of the MCSE, with every 2-bit IT guy doing “security”. Along with pen testing, I know that I need to find an area in security that most people won’t have skills in, and that’s reverse code engineering. I doubt that it would ever become overrun with people because it’s such a complicated subject.

I’ve got like 2-3 months left here before I’m on my own in a city 2,700 miles away. And just like you said, I’d speeding up my learning, trying to learn everything I can before I go.

It’s insane, there’s just so much stuff to learn, it’s really killing me, I stay up until 3am every morning because I don’t want to sleep, I want to learn more and more. And I think that’s the only way to get ahead in the cutthroat world of computing and network/security world.