Reprinted with permission © 2008 TreeTop Technologies

As we pay attention to who clients are looking to hire and who companies are laying off, we have noticed that the generalist IT professional is less attractive to companies these days. Even companies that once embraced generalists are now demanding some specialized skills on top of the generalist IT base.

But don’t sound the death knell of IT generalists just yet; this is far from an either-or proposition. Those who might be in the best position for many jobs are those who have strengths in general IT and who have one or more specialized skills. Being only a specialist can put you in a risky position, particularly if the technologies you specialize in lose favor—and jumping quickly from one specialty to another is a tricky maneuver. What companies truly need these days are people who understand the general business issues and who know a core set of technologies but who are also expert in one or more specific areas, like .NET, Web 2.0 apps or database analysis.

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Footnotes: From "View from the TreeTop" Volume 2 Issue 5 May 2008