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Seriously. Did a physics bachelor's and taking a network science course in my master's right now. Also currently looking for a job, and it feels impossible to get people to take me, a generalist who can move up and down the problem stack with ease, seriously. I truly believe what Heinlein said; that specialization is for insects.


This is a puzzle to me, even late in my career. I think one thing is that as a company grows and matures, it gets more organized, and more formal about hiring. This makes it harder to hire misfits such as myself. HR has a hard time passing a misfit's resume along to a hiring manager. But also harder to get rid of us. ;-)

If bigger, more successful companies hire with an eye towards specialization, then the flip side is that there's a reward for workers who specialize. Also, many people like what they're doing, want to get good at it, and do more of it.

This is why, much as I love physics and don't regret studying it, I also won't tell anybody that it's a surefire career path.




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