I’ve always needed to know the why

As a child I used to take apart the toaster and washing machine just to figure out how they worked. More often than not I left behind a trail of broken appliances for my exasperated parents.

That curiosity never left. It’s what led me through a career spanning helpdesk support, networks, infrastructure, solution architecture, cloud, DevSecOps and now technology leadership. I’ve rebuilt myself more times than I can count. Not for the fun of it but because it’s the only way to stay relevant when the landscape keeps shifting underneath me.

Right now that shift is AI.

AI is already changing the nature of software, platform, security engineering and pretty much every other tech role. The narrow roles, the highly specialised skillsets, the comfort of knowing one thing really well are all at risk. If you’re not growing you’re standing still. And in our industry standing still is the fastest way to become obsolete.

Here’s the reality. The future belongs to expert generalists.

Not shallow dabblers. Not people who’ve done a bit of everything. I’m talking about people who go deep where needed but stay broad enough to move across domains, pick up new tools quickly and solve complex problems end to end.

Why generalism matters more than ever

AI is great at narrow tasks

Specialists who rely on routine or tool specific work are going to feel the squeeze. If your job is writing boilerplate, managing known patterns or churning out the same Terraform every day, AI can already do that and it’s only getting better.

First principles beat tools

Knowing how systems work at a fundamental level beats knowing a specific framework or vendor product. Distributed systems, system thinking, understanding patterns and anti-patterns. These don’t go out of fashion. They help you get up to speed on any new technology.

Versatility scales with AI

AI is a force multiplier. If you already know how to move across roles and responsibilities it lets you move even faster. Expert generalists can build full systems faster, automate more, solve broader problems and do it without handoffs or permission.

Ownership is everything

In this new world the value isn’t in knowing one tool inside out. It’s in taking a problem, understanding it, solving it and shipping something that delivers real value. End to end ownership is the new currency of personal impact.

What makes an expert generalist?

  • Strong first principles thinking
  • Curiosity that drives continuous learning
  • Comfort moving across domains
  • Collaboration over control
  • Outcome focus not job titles
  • And crucially the humility to say “I don’t know that but I’ll find out”

What I’ve learned

I’ve worked across finance, government, consultancy and product. I’ve built cloud platforms, DevSecOps functions and now lead a multidisciplinary tech team at PortSwigger.

The one constant? Every time I’ve embraced generalism I’ve grown. Every time I’ve clung too tightly to a domain I’ve stalled.

The people I respect most are the ones who keep evolving, keep learning, keep moving. They don’t care what language or tool is hot. They just want to solve problems that matter.

What next?

If you’re feeling boxed in by your role, start breaking out. Pick up something new. Ask how the systems you work on actually hang together. Use AI to free up your time. Then reinvest that time into becoming more useful, more adaptable, more resilient.

Keep your specialism. Just don’t get stuck in it.

This post was influenced by Martin Fowler’s Expert Generalist