Jack of All Trades - Is That a Bad Thing?

Being an IT Specialist 🤓 for many years, I have long lived in dread of a popular quote & motto/ watchword of mine; "Jack of ALL trades, and Master of None!"

Horrors of horrors! 😨 No professional wants that tag-line directed at them. A painful quote for me, as I am a curious soul, a natural "dabbler", and a tech dilettante. I have struggled to reconcile the concepts of specialization, "narrow focus", deliberate mastery, and the "10,000 Hour Rule", with these other 2 quotes I love :

"If you’re the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room." ~ Unknown
"It is hard to fill a cup that is already full" ~ Mo'at - Avatar (2009)

Re the infamous "master of none" quote, in October 2022 a good friend of mine, Liban G. educated & liberated me that I only had 1/2 the quote! 😲 ... and that the quote was initially a compliment with the opposite meaning of how it's interpreted now. Here is the full quote:

A Jack of All Trades is a master of none, ... but oftentimes better than a master of one." - Robert Greene about future playwright & poet, William Shakespeare

Yes ... THE William Shakespeare!

It's worth remembering that the original definition of "amateur" is someone that does something primarily for the love of the thing.

Learn more here :
Resource #1 ~ Why Being a JoAT is Essential for Success
Resource # 2 ~ JoAT Full Quote
'Amateur' defined ~ Amateur Defined
10,000 Hour Rule ~ 10K Hour Rule

I do hope this will truly be Food for Thought for you!?