The Setup

Most technologists start their careers as generalists. This is often how educational programs are built. They are designed to expose learners to a variety of relevant technologies to make students relatively versatile to the needs of the marketplace. Even if your educational background is specialized, often entry level positions in enterprise technology are general in nature. Help Desk professionals solve a variety of end-user problems. Operations professionals handle the entire gamut of IT systems support. Junior Developers often support and debug code for vast smattering of codebases developed over the decades.

Having breadth as a generalist is a great way to start. You get to experience a lot of variety and hone your skills as a troubleshooter, researcher, and analyst because you don’t have deep skills and experience to rely upon. However, eventually, if you want to advance in your career, you should specialize and go deep.

Depth is the pathway to becoming a senior engineer or developer. Being the best in the company at a particular technology is fun. You get the respect of peers and customers. You might even get called a “rockstar” every once in a while. Getting really good at this requires connections outside the company in user groups, conferences, and online communities. You no longer just consume, but you contribute. Being an expert is cool.

The Problem

It’s so cool, that it’s really tempting to make a career out of it and stay there. Many do. It tends to continue to be rewarding as long as you stay current in your expertise and as long as the particular technology you picked remains in-demand.

Uh oh. That last part just made me a little nervous. How about you?

I’m extremely empathetic to this condition. My training and experience as an engineer was in the Windows ecosystem. People have been predicting the fall of Microsoft to Linux/Java/Open Systems for a very long time. It’s debatable whether or not that will actually happen. My mastery in Windows did not translate into Linux. I was also a Citrix guru.  While Citrix itself isn’t dead, the entire need for Citrix is predicated on the business running on locally installed, traditional Windows applications. These aren’t going anywhere soon, but who in their right mind would set off to write a brand new locally installed, traditional Windows app? The move to web applications has been underway for 20 years. At some point, Citrix will go the way of the dodo bird. Those are just my personal experiences. All of you can tell similar tales.

To make matters worse, there’s also the technology “religious war” to watch out for. Historically, it was the IBM vs. Sun vs. HP battle. Then it was the Microsoft vs. Open Systems battle. These debates are pejoratively called religious wars because blind allegiance to any one of these communities is an article of faith. Passion for technology is good. Crusading for a technology religious war isn’t good for your company or your career. Know when to dial it back.

Here comes the hard part. It took a lot of effort to become a respected expert in that particular technology. If we’re honest with ourselves, we don’t want to go through that again. Not only is it hard, but it’s also extremely humbling. I’m a genius in Windows but a moron on Linux. I don’t want to be a moron. That doesn’t feel like progress. It feels like I’d be going backwards! Who wants to do that? Is there even a market for that? Who would pay me senior salary for entry-level experience?

The Solution

There is a solution to this problem, but the longer you wait, the harder it gets. First you start wide, then you go deep, then you go wide, then you go deep, then you repeat, repeat, repeat. About the time you become an expert in something, you need to find the next technology to master. See what is in-demand and go after it. You think you can’t do it, but you are wrong. After all, you started out as a dummy in what you are currently ubergeeking on. You can do it again.

Another approach is the concept of becoming “T-shaped.” The “T” is a visual metaphor for depth and breadth. The long vertical bar is technical depth, while the shorter horizontal bar is breadth across adjacent technical disciplines. Expert-level depth is an assumed prerequisite. The breadth and collaboration is the value-add that makes an expert an invaluable team-player. It also provides mobility to venture into new areas of depth as needed. Use your breadth and collaboration to build an on-ramp for developing a new technical expertise. You’ll have to do this while operating in your incumbent expertise. Mentally and emotionally, this can be exhausting, but this is the key to successfully navigating these cycles of change. This isn’t about fear of obsolescence. It’s about proactively managing your career.

Have you successfully transitioned from one technical expertise to another? Have you successfully escaped the trap of a technical religious war? Do you have other tips to share for readers that have built-up expertise in one area, but need to branch out? Please share your comments below.