Learn something adjacent to coding. I think breadth wins over depth. Knowing how to do 10 disciplines 50% of the way is a super power. Rely on LLM-based tools to do the other 50%.

This is, unfortunately, contrary to previous advice of specializing.

It’s a great time to be a jack of all trades and master of none.

+1. There's a good book "Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World" that lays out how it's better to be an all arounder than min-max skills and life areas. The advice actually predates LLMs!

I always felt repulsed by specialization due to diminishing returns and the fact im curious about everything. But I though about it and picking up various experiences to avoid a specialization is, in a sense, itself a specialization: it's unlikely there's another person with a similar set of experiences!

Reminds me of how Python is termed "2nd best pick for every task". It's rarely the best but it covers a lot of ground, so by starting with it, you can uncover what would be a better language. So a generalist can also be a first pick for something, at least until it's more clear about what's a better pick.

Anyways sorry for rambling, I agree with you. If a young person is reading this, the worst thing you can do is specialize too early (read the book I mentioned!); go explore the world first before settling and picking a direction

Honestly, I've seen the difference between knowing what you're doing with AI because you have broad and in-depth knowledge of a domain versus not having that, and the difference in what you can do with AI is staggering.

I see generalists plateauing while I'm not able to go technical enough due to token counts not allowing for it.

I think the more popular advise has always been to be T-shaped instead of a pure specialist