Specialise to survive?

[j2mccluggage at adelphia.net (Jody & Jennifer McCluggage)]

I agree with Mick.  I never bought into the "you need to specialize"
argument.  Sure there is some very good money in it depending on what you
specialize in and how good you are at it but you also may end up limiting
your options (which may bite you in a down economy).  I believe it is
possible to master multiple domains (of course you cannot master all, so you
do have to limit yourself).  I would personally find it boring just to focus
in on one thing all the time.  If you look at the lives of many of the
brilliant people of the past (Franklin, Jefferson, etc) you will be amazed
at how broad their knowledge and expertise were.  

Job wise, There will always be a market in small to mid-size businesses for
generalists. It is not efficient for many of them to hire a bunch of
specialists.  They tend to outsource many of the jobs that require
specialists.

Well that is my opinion for what it is worth.

Jody 



-----Original Message-----
From: pauldotcom-bounces at mail.pauldotcom.com
[mailto:pauldotcom-bounces at mail.pauldotcom.com] On Behalf Of Michael Douglas
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 4:55 PM
To: PaulDotCom Security Weekly Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Pauldotcom] Specialise to survive?

It all depends on what sort of a career you want to have.  If you want
to find a job pretty easily and have a great variety in what your
day-to-day gig looks like, I think being a generalist is a valid
option.  However, if you have the inclination and want to focus on
just one aspect of InfoSec you can do that too.  Be sure to checkout
what your local market will pay for each.  Sometimes specializing can
be very lucrative, unless perhaps you're focusing on something too
niche (forensic analysis of devorak keyboards for AS/400 systems
emulating Apple IIc systems).

Also remember, it's only money... you should view your time as far
more important.  If you don't believe in your job and really enjoy or
find what you're doing interesting, you do need to start looking
elsewhere.  Do NOT become a cow-orker. We (geeks) make very poor
sheeple.

<rant>
If you really want to get me frothy in the mouth start saying stuff
like  "jack of all trades, master of none".  Why? It's a LIE.
Assuming no cognitive impermanent or organic brain damage, one can
become really good at any number of computer based skills.  I honestly
believe the idea that someone HAS to focus on just one thing is a
misguided "truth" perpetuated by those who are lacking skills
themselves.  (also bear in mind two things -- first I'm not professing
to be a general know-it-all for computer stuff.  Second, I've had too
much caffeine. Again.  So this answer should be read as 30% less
ranty)
</rant>

Maybe we should have an InfoSec career round-table on the show
sometime soon.  Any votes on this?  If you like the idea, please send
some questions our way!

- Mick


On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 10:52 AM, Robert
Portvliet<robert.portvliet at gmail.com> wrote:
> What do you guys think of this article?
>
> http://darkreading.com/blog/archives/2009/08/specialization.html
>
> Do you feel it's better to study different areas of infosec (incident
> handling AND penetration testing, for instance) or do you think it's
> best to pick one area & focus all your efforts on learning everything
> you can about it?
> _______________________________________________
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> Pauldotcom at mail.pauldotcom.com
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