Can You Be A Generalist Software Engineer
Depends on your definition of a generalist. A sound software engineer can jump into any programming language, read the docs, and surmise how to approach the code if a generalist to you is the ability to write fundamental code in any language. With these fundamentals include variables, functions, arrays, etc. If your definition of a generalist is knowing all the languages in and out, I have yet to see it.
I consider myself a generalist, but I couldn’t tell you every feature of all programming languages from memory. When I run into a problem I need to solve, I’ve used enough languages on different projects to look at the documentation and figure out how to solve it in the language I’m working in.
Part of being a good programmer today is being a good problem solver and being able to look at a problem and begin to dissect the issue. As well as how to go about solving it is extremely important. Problem-solving is the number one most important thing a programmer can possess.
Furthermore, Rey’s initial response can be found here on Quora.
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Rey Ortega
I'm a passionate creator of technologies for businesses. After years of leading software teams & delivering products to market, I founded Grata Software, a software consultancy, that helps businesses innovate and build disruptive products on cloud platforms. At Grata, I am the CEO & Head Solutions Architect.
