I once offered a job to a guy who described himself as a “creative generalist.” We were looking for a project manager, but I offered him the position, anyway. Ultimately he refused the offer when I balked at his request for a MacBook Pro. I assumed the much cheaper Dell PC we already had could compute the critical path on a GANTT or PERT chart just as well as any Mac. He assumed I was an asshole for refusing his request.
In retrospect, my prima donna detector should have gone off when he described himself as both creative and a generalist. Don’t get me wrong, creativity is an imperative skill if one wants to thrive in any software company, particularly one that builds games.[1] But a generalist? It’s great to be good at many things, but being great at one thing is even gooder. Play to your strengths and specialize, kids. Nobody needs a generalist.
This excerpt is from the book Lord of the Files, published by Thought Pilots.
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[1] Creativity is an often overlooked quality in good programmers. In 1956, IBM’s first recruitment campaign for computer programmers was a print ad that targeted people who enjoyed algebra, music composition, and games, and who had lively imaginations. While not exactly the stereotype of today’s computer nerd, it is a strikingly accurate set of criteria for the type of person who would be considered creative, logical, and likely enjoy programming. For more on this fascinating story, see Nathan Ensmenger, “Building Castles in the Air: Reflections on recruiting and training programmers during the early period of computing,” Communications of the ACM, 54 (4), pp. 28-30.
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