Web Forefront

I've been grilled but have also been guilty of blasting a few people for lacking knowledge on a particularly obscure subject, welcome to the world of the generalist and specialist in IT. With technology so ample and its life-cycles often notorious for their speed, there is often a very fine line between what one perceives as a specialist and generalist, yet from this study it seems one can eliminate the guesswork by simply looking at the state of happiness and grumpiness.

In Why Specialists are Grumpy and Generalists are Happy by Bob Sutton -- who wrote The no asshole rule -- he cites a study by Karl Weick which talks about generalists and specialists, that includes the following

Generalists, people with moderately strong attachments to many ideas, should be hard to interrupt, and once interrupted, should have weaker, shorter negative negative reactions since they have alternative paths to realize their plans. Specialists, people with stronger attachments to fewer ideas, should be easier to interrupt, and once interrupted, should have stronger,more sustained negative reactions because they have fewer alternative pathways to realize their plans. Generalists should be the the upbeat, positive people in the profession while specialists should be their grouchy, negative counterparts (page 526).

I couldn't agree more with this statement, but what is even more interesting is Sutton's own remarks on the subject: I don't know about the people that you work with, but in my field -- although I won't name any names -- this theory works pretty well. This logic not only applies to academics, I've heard my wife argue that the grumpiest lawyers are those who are so specialized that "they know almost everything about something that is so narrow and obtuse that it seems like almost nothing," these ultra-specialists often have no interest in other law, client's related business problems, or what other lawyers do. And, like ultra-specialists in other fields, they believe that others are really too naive and stupid to understand their precious, well-developed, but very specialized ideas. Wow, tag on IT professionals to this rank.

The last grilling I took part in was an interview I had a long time ago for a Java guru position in a bank -- that's exactly how the recruiter described it -- I remember it vividly, after two phone interviews I was invited for an in-person interview. Well, you would think that after being screened with a few questions on Java clustering and frameworks, the interview wouldn't be such a disaster, but it was far worse.

The one doing the interview was the hiring manager -- the decision maker or in Dilbert corporate speak the PHB -- he had the title of 'Senior Applications Manager', well let me tell you he was probably one of the biggest assholes I have ever met -- and I've met a few. The obscurity in the technical questioning was way beyond clustering and frameworks, it was about the JVM security sandbox, Java memory leaks and API's, and no, the typical applet sandbox or null references answers were not acceptable, by the third or fourth question this prick was almost barking out the questions with the same 'too naive and stupid to understand' mentality mentioned in this study, how dare I apply for a Java position if I didn't know that!

It was a hard-earned lesson, and one that was further confirmed by this study: Specialists are more than often grumpy, and I could add, the grumpier the more specialized they are! So take heed, if you see a grumpy IT professional he is in 'specialist mode', on the other hand if you see a happy IT professional its more than likely he is in 'generalist mode'.

Update: Reading a news article on workplace environment's, I found myself following numerous articles on the subject of happiness and grumpiness, here are few of the most interesting one's which are based on scientific and research projects.

Bliss and the Brains Explores the relation of left-right brain functions, genetics and happiness/unhappiness, a short and interesting read.

Controlling Anger -- Before It Controls You : While the title sounds like anger management self-help -- and does in fact contain a few bullets -- its does answer a few more why's "People who are easily angered generally have what some psychologists call a low tolerance for frustration, meaning simply that they feel that they should not have to be subjected to frustration, inconvenience, or annoyance. They can't take things in stride, and they're particularly infuriated if the situation seems somehow unjust: for example, being corrected for a minor mistake", sounds like a specialists to me: "How dare you..."

The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion In Groups This paper illustrates how emotion plays a ripple effect in groups, perhaps nothing new since its well known 'one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel', but still an interesting read and an illustration of why perhaps start-ups are scant on specialists and tend to be populated by generalists.