In praise of Expert Generalists and Normal Engineers

On June 19, 2025 two separate articles were published which truly touched me

1. Charity Majors - In praise of Normal Engineers https://charity.wtf/2025/06/19/in-praise-of-normal-engineers/

2. Martin Fowler - Expert Generalists https://martinfowler.com/articles/expert-generalist.html

The reasons I am highlighting them is that they are bringing to the fore two key challenges that I am facing in my career growth and progression

1. As a technologist who is very interested in technology service provision at the front lines - working with developers and teams in the trenches, I am a generalist with experience across multiple sectors and facets of the software delivery lifecycle.

   • I work well with specialists in teams to bring out the best in them to deliver software based tools and solutions.

   • I act as a bridge between business stakeholders and technology teams - translating between the two

   • I have experience at the executive level understanding their pain points, challenges and points of view

   • I have experience as a software engineer, working and leading engineering teams - this is what I love best

   • Thus I end up having a challenge articulating my value proposition to potential employers - since they are only used to working with specialists

   • The comb metaphor an evolution of I, T-shaped and PI shaped skillsets https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ssmusoke_whats-your-breadth-and-depth-of-knowledge-activity-7059588477100654592-KW74?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAAG3aCMBNJv-ckREKm41ZsSnfe-BPet83UE

2. The goal is not 10x engineers but 10x engineering teams

   • Nothing great was ever built by a single person

   • Teams deliver multiples more value than a single developer, although at times only a single developer is needed

   • Onboarding newbies, growing and mentoring engineers is a goal of any senior, my first mentor Charles Mukasa, told me always work yourself out of a job, find a train your replacement for any role you have

   • The 10x engineering hackers are the 1%, the rest of the world is made up of normal engineers who can deliver extra-ordinary value and solutions

3. The keys to success are:

   • Learn the fundamentals

   • Focus on solving customer problems

   • Collaborate with others - to go fast go alone, to go far go together

4. Found an interesting aligned concept on Polymer Professionals https://www.nathanbroslawsky.com/p/identity-careers-are-over-polymer-professions-are-in/

What are your thoughts on these paradigms