“Jack of all trades, master of none, but oftentimes better than master of one”
I ran into an Instagram reel that reminded me of this quote today, and it’s one that I have conflicting feelings about.
The saying first reminds me of my father. He wanted my sister and me to be well-versed in many things because he thought that was what prestigious colleges wanted. From a young age, he had us enrolled in Stanford online math courses, Taekwondo, and piano; all things that he probably thought would help us become multifaceted jacks. But as we grew older and he learned more about colleges, he became increasingly aware of the opposite; becoming a master of one would better help us stand out amongst the crowd. And so in high school, I tried to specialize, to become well-versed in engineering and robotics. I suppose it worked because I was accepted into the Hopkins Biomedical Engineering (BME) program.
Here is where my conflict begins. BME seems not particularly specialized or focused like electrical engineering or computer science. BME (at least from the courses that I’ve taken) feels more like an amalgamation of all different engineering disciplines like biology, mechanical engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, and even business. It seems like BME is the definition of “jack of all trades”. On one side I feel I should like my major because I am naturally drawn to trying many different things. For example I’ve dabbled in video editing, photography, music production, streaming, animation, 3D modeling, website design, app development, and on and on, but I’ve never really settled on one that’s completely captured my attention. On the other side I feel like if I went into computer science instead, something that I feel more passionate about, it would be easier to find a job and niche later down the road.
Furthermore (in my small little bubble and limited life experience), everything clamors for specialization. My roommate wishes he went into geology or mechanical engineering, ones that he considers “real engineering”. The specialized doctors like orthodontists, dermatologists, neurosurgeons, are paid the most and most sought after; “Don’t become a family doctor,” my parents say. Bruce Lee also has a legendary quote that advocates completely against the jack route: “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times”.
On one end there’s the complete specialist, like dedicating your whole life to mastering those obsolete but necessary coding languages like COBOL. On the other end, there are polymaths, brilliant individuals whose mastery spans many different disciplines and bodies of knowledge. People like Leonardo da Vinci and Benjamin Franklin come to mind. I guess everybody lies in between here at some point. An engineer who is too closed off lacks tools in his toolbox, but an artist who tries too many styles loses their own identity. I suppose one can’t expect to be a master of every single thing in the world. Maybe it’s just a question of where I want to lean on this scale. Maybe being specialized and a polymath are not mutually exclusive.
Anyways, a bit of a ramble for this blog post tonight, lots to think about. Maybe I’ll come back to this topic later.
-VN, 4/4/23