I feel like this describes me a lot but I also feel like it gives me a broad and eclectic knowledgebase that my employment has nothing to do with and has no mutual relevance to
I had a professor who when talking about a PhD would talk about the need for breath and depth. Im a generalist and I find I have as much depth as I need to get things done. Then I move on to another hole.
Depends on the job. It is quite alright to be a generalist and have a broad understanding of everything. It allows you to connect different fields, come up with simple fixes for nearly everything and call for an expert if it’s beyond your perspective. Apart from that there are jobs that don’t require knowledge. Maybe instead strength, patience and dedication or empathy.
The dangerous part is if you don’t know your limits. If you’re a dilettante and then start opening the panel from the circuit breakers and mess with the wires, you will probably burn down your house.
I hate when my breaker goes out aha. I’m very good about watching YouTube walkthrus until I get stuff like that where its dangerous, delicate , or both
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
Except dilettante and generalist aren’t synonyms. A generalist will have a broad base of things they’ll want to have some actual knowledge in, a dilettante (yes, it only has one l) wouldn’t necessarily have more than one area they have a superficial interest in.
Oh do I ever hate that Protestant bullshit. I doth Protest Protestantism, why is such an assholey whole concept or ethos?! So many destroyed lives and deaths for a ridiculous religious way of saying fuck anybody not born into or lucky with money
Dilettante gets used as an insult when someone wants to discredit the position of another for having insufficient dedication, credentials, or experience. People who really know what they’re talking about address positions directly rather than the person who holds them.
No, not a bad thing. Makes for a good pub trivia teammate.
Only a negative if it keeps a person from being able to focus on their job. But that’s beyond just being a dilettante, that’s unmanaged ADHD or something.
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