It took me a long time to work out what I was.

Not in some grand existential sense, others have far more life impactful scenarios than me, I mean professionally. I kept landing in roles that felt too restrictive, or that crossed over multiple things that excited me, enjoying work that didn’t fit neatly into one box, noticing that I got restless when a job asked me to go deep on only one thing for too long.

For years I felt this was a flaw, I lacked focus, dedication and an inability to commit.

I learned over time, it’s none of those things. I’m just a generalist. And it took me way too long time to not just accept that, but to actually feel good about it.

There is nothing wrong with being a specialist. There is nothing wrong with loving one thing deeply, going further into it than anyone else around you, and building a career on that depth. I’m genuinely envious of people who have that clarity. It’s a gift and I often wish that was me.

But this one’s for the rest of us who do not have the singular purpose and drive.

The ones who are “technical enough to be in product but not quite,” who can sell but don’t want to, who understand enough about five different things to be useful in the conversation but can’t claim any one of them as a specialism. Product marketers, solution architects, generalist operators … we’re among the group of people who’ve always lived a bit between the lines.

Generalists see things that specialists can’t. Not because they’re smarter, but because of where they’re standing. Right in the middle of 17 overlapping Venn Diagrams.

When you sit at the overlap of multiple disciplines, you notice things that individual silos miss. You see how the product story and the sales motion aren’t quite aligned, you notice that the technical team and the customer success team are solving the same problem from opposite ends and haven’t spoken to each other. You can hold the whole picture in your head while others are focused on their part of it.

That perspective is genuinely valuable, and in well-run organizations, it’s genuinely valued.

I’m writing this in January 2023, which feels like an important time to say it. Because right now, a lot of generalists are being let go. (Editors Note: this is being re-published in June 2026 and nothing has changed)

The tech industry is in a binge and purge cycle, and when cuts happen, the logic often goes: keep the specialists, they build the thing. The generalists are nice to have.

I think that logic is wrong, not because I’m a generalist, but because of the breadth most companies need in the things to get done, and I think the companies making that call will feel it. Not immediately, maybe not for months. But the person who held the connective tissue together, who spotted the misalignment before it became a problem, who could walk into any room and add something useful, yeah that person’s absence leaves a gap that’s hard to name and harder to fill.

The smart companies are holding on to them. The ones that understand a competitive advantage isn’t always about depth, sometimes it’s about the experience and the view from the middle.

If you’re a generalist who’s worried about work stability, or who’s spent their career quietly wondering if they’re somehow less than the people with a tighter specialism, I see you.

You’re not less. You’re different. And different, in the right environment, is exactly what’s needed.

Stay smart. Stay you.