The ‘Jack of all trades’ is really not for the tech product industry but …
It depends on where and how you work and we all know that.
For me, diversity means strength. Gaining new skills and trying new things sharpens my mind and broadens my horizon, rather than narrowing it. Being a jack of all trades allows me to stay fresh and flexible. This approach serves as some sort of life insurance, allowing me to adapt and move forward. Plus, it’s just a ton of fun.
The culture is different. But this is good for an agency, freelancer or our own business. So we cannot say A instead of B. As a mature person, we know there are always pros and cons and it all depends. We all know that, unless we just getting started as a designer about this mindset. But sometimes we forget a few small things to analyze something and to dig deeper just because we’re not in a certain place.
Once upon a time at a big tech, there was a leader who asked any designers who were capable of other than UI/UX to do those jobs too (but not me, at that time I enjoyed being UI/UX only because I could choose to). I hated that at that time and that’s normal because I worked in big tech. It’s abnormal, yes. But it doesn't mean it’s wrong at all in all parts of our lives outside big tech. I hated it when it happened in big tech because that’s not how big tech works in most cases (maybe not all). But it could work well and is very good in other places.
There is also consideration between ego and willing to adapt to balance the market and situation today. We don’t need to adapt in anything in heaven only.
One-man agency example
This is the new trend of design subscription agencies, which mostly provide many skills. In this case, one-man agency. I work at a design subscription as well. Not tech tech techy anymore so far. Although the client can be in tech.
Read these:
Updated on 22 August (UX is dead. Long live UX):
Generalists. This is just another cycle of the specialist/generalist battle. While design systems and research are a thing on larger teams, smaller teams are required to be more nimble and flexible. This will continue until we can further prove how we can contribute to the business better. ⬇️⬇️
