There comes a time when we all have to become specialists. Time is maybe the biggest cause – there simply isn’t enough time for us to be generalists about everything. Also the demands of a specific job or career path tend to focus us into specialization.
But I think it’s the best advice to be a generalist for as long as possible. Be widely curious, be interested beyond your career or major, try things you’ve never done before.
More and more, we are inviting children to become specialists younger and younger. Some are choosing to specialize by their freshman year of high school, if not earlier. A specialist in a sport. A “future engineer.” But for every student who choose the specialist route and follows through into that career, there are many more who end up doing something completely different.
I worry that this leaves them guilty or regretful, but I more worry that by encouraging specialists, we are taking away chances to explore and discover who they are.
My advice to students is to be a generalist. For as long as you think you can. Even a little longer than that.