The Web Designer Depot published an interesting post a few days ago called In Defense of The Jack of All Trades by Mindy Wagner. I found the post very interesting, because personally, I’ve being thinking about a generalist vs. specialist.

I think the Rypple team is a great example of perfect generalists because our skills all extend outside of our specific roles.

To really be successful, I suggest you strike a balance between generalist and specialist.

Be really great at one thing, but decently good at several other things related to it. Be a great designer with a solid background in user experience and SEO, or a fantastic front end dev who can do light backend coding and pull together a decent layout.

Your primary work will improve because of the secondary knowledge you pick up. And whether you freelance or work for a company, you will be a more valuable resource.

Go beyond “enough to be dangerous”. Know enough to talk fluently with someone who is a specialist in that area. This way you will be able to identify problems, taking care of minor ones and communicating bigger issues to the right specialists. You can be the person who sees the big picture and understands how all the parts interrelate.

Recently with the new design of Rypple, the whole team was involved in the design process. Everyone brought different skills to the table, and it ultimately made the process very smooth. Many members of the team made their own mockups of what they wanted the design to look like. We had everything from Photoshop mockups to sketches on the back of napkins. The generalist approach worked amazingly.

You can read the rest of the post on The Web Designer Depot.