My Unlimited Signature
Two Weirdos Getting Married Oct. 31st, 1998
This will make sense in just a second…
Things I designed/made in this picture:
Her wedding dress
His suit and shirt
The cake
The cake stand
And this is my email signature:
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
- Lazarus Long (Robert A. Heinlein)
And this is why…
From the day we are born, people are trying to limit us. They don’t usually do it out of malice or in an attempt to hurt us; on the contrary — often they do it because they love us and want to help and protect us. These limits come in various forms:
1. What do you want to be when you grow up?
You have to grow up
You have to narrow your vision to one very specific thing and do it quickly or something bad will happen.
2. The sky’s the limit!
There’s a limit
Don’t try to go beyond the sky, that’s too far
3. Stay inside the lines.
Deviance from the norm is unacceptable
Beauty is pre-defined and not discoverable
4. Why can’t you be more like <insert name here>?
Here’s a box, fit in it
Different is bad
And there are many others like You have to have money to make money. You only live once. Pick something reasonable. Be realistic. That’s just a pipe dream etc. There are a million ways the people who love us want to protect us, so they tell us the things they think will help us hurt less, fail less often. However well-meaning they may be, they’re limiting us to one degree or another.
The Wayback Machine
When I was a teenager, and early in my career, I considered myself a Jack of All Trades. I could build a house, fix an engine, sing professionally, paint a car, repair a bicycle, build a computer, design a wedding dress. I was pretty darn proud at how diverse I was. I saw this as an asset and I continued to seek additional skills. Then one day I heard the rest of that expression:
Jack of All Trades, Master of None.
Oh crap, I thought, if I can do all of these things, I must not be very good at any of them! Who wants to hire a mechanic who can sing? Who wants a computer geek who designs clothes? I’d better stop generalizing and really start focusing! I changed my résumé to reflect just one skill. I picked a title for myself. I didn’t mention all the other stuff I could do or enjoyed doing during interviews — I thought it might distract and draw focus from what I was really good at.
This philosophy seemed to work…for a little while. Then one day I found myself applying for a job as a writer. As I finished up the writing portion of the interview, the HR person came in and said “It says here you know Flash and Photoshop as well.” to which I replied “Sure.” “Well,” she said, “we have another position here that pays more and I think you’d be perfect for it. It requires someone who can code AND design, and those are very hard to come by.” So I applied for, interviewed for, and got that job instead. And my next job. And the job after that. And the next 2 jobs after that. And…
Be All The Things
Pretty soon I came to realize, being able to call yourself a master at something is cool, but having great skill and mastering LOTS of things makes you invaluable, employable, and, dare I say it, much more interesting. Then one day I happened upon the Heinlein quote and discovered why I’d always been at odds with the Jack quote.
“Jack of All Trades, Master of None” implies limits. It assumes you cannot be a master of any/all those trades. It’s a limiting thought and it’s damaging. One day someone Tweeted something to the effect of
“How can they expect me to be a great designer AND learn to code? Won’t learning to code take my focus away from my true craft?”
To which another replied
“Why not be great at both? Haven’t you ever met a great programmer who was also a great musician?”
This hit home for me for a few reasons:
I was a Lead Developer
I have 2 degrees in music, another in Theatre, and a Masters degree in Interactive media
I was a Lead UX Designer.
Of course, you can be great at lots of things — I am. I’d bet most people are. You’re probably awesome at lots of stuff. But, for some reason, our culture wants to silo you off, box you in, label, and pigeon-hole you. Applying these limits makes things easier on them and doesn’t help you at all. Why limit yourself, and you sure as heck shouldn’t allow others to limit you. That’s the over-protective masses talking in the back of your head telling you to stop dreaming so big because you’ll fail and feel bad. To firey places with them. I want to be Lazarus Long. That’s why that quote is my email signature. I refuse to limit myself to the confines and fears of others. I’ll be what I want to be and do what I want to do — because it makes me better at everything I do.
I’ll be what I want to be and do what I want to do — because it makes me better at everything I do.
I’m a better designer because I code and a better coder because I design. I’m a better father because I design and a better husband because I’m a father. It goes on and on.
Specialization is for insects.
PS — here’s how I’m doing with that list. What about you?
change a diaper ✓
plan an invasion
butcher a hog
conn a ship
design a building ✓
write a sonnet ✓
balance accounts ✓
build a wall ✓
set a bone ✓
comfort the dying ✓
take orders ✓
give orders ✓
cooperate ✓
act alone ✓
solve equations ✓
analyze a new problem ✓
pitch manure ✓
program a computer ✓
cook a tasty meal ✓
fight efficiently ✓
die gallantly