Software development has always been a fast-paced sector. New and better technologies are constantly coming out and if companies don't keep up they'll soon be out of date.

Daria has experience with multiple teams who were upgrading their stack, and through that has discovered joy in being a generalist who is capable of working with a variety of technologies and able to see the big picture.

She has found having a generalist skillset both keeps her interested and gives her the ability to communicate with the front and backend teams in ways they both understand. With her ability to understand the different levels and keep everyone on the same page she is on the path to becoming an effective engineering manager in the coming years.

"Generalist" doesn't just mean full-stack developer, there are many more skill areas than front and back end. Maybe you could work on the CI pipeline, or maybe automated testing. There is a lot of value in choosing this path instead of building the deep knowledge of a specialist. They can't work in isolation, someone has to be able to coordinate and "be the glue" between the different parts of the stack.

Homework

  • Take five minutes to think about whether you want to be a generalist or a specialist, and then write down the three things you can do to get your career to go in that direction
  • Talk to your manager about your career goals

Guest: Daria Caraway

Host: Kent C. Dodds