Jack-of-all-trades or a Master?

[Puck]

I choose the Jack of all trades.

The master is unable to adapt to change, the jack of all trades is more versatile and able to excel at a wider variety of concepts and skills. In a survival situation, the jack of all trades would be the clear survivor. Nature teaches us that the ones who can adapt and utilize new concepts will be the one who survives.

[Reluctant]

Beign a jack of all trades does't seem all that great you cant excel annywhere. I rather be a master at 1 thing and exploit that to the top.

Simplefied my tought procces went something like. Jack of all trades = handyman, Master = World champion athlete, musician, renownded scientist etc.

[Vizardlorde]

I wish I were a master but sadly Im a jack of all trades, I tend to be more knowledgeable than almost everyone I know but if we talk about specific subjects there's always people that 1up me. I can be amazing at anything but I'll never be the best T-T.

[Raphtheone]

Master Sniper. Or if I was born 600 years earlier, Master Armorsmith. Or 600 years later, Master Space Explorer.

JOAT is just confusing, you can do everything, but not enough time to do more than one or two things. Unless you go for low-pay jobs like a janitor, then you could probably squeeze in a dozen or so skills. All your talents elsewhere will go to waste. The upside is that you can do pretty much anything you want. Which leads me to the confusing part, since people generally like doing things they're good at, so what to choose. You enjoy working with people, but you're also good at math. You like programming, but you also like to draw stuff. You like economics, but find law fascinating. You want to enlist in the military because of all the injustice in the world, but you'd also be an awesome veterinarian. You want to lead people, but you're also good at following. You want to be your nations PM, but darn it you really want to do some porn. Utterly. Confusing.

Being a master at something solves all problems. Just do that one thing, over and over, for the rest of your life.

[poser765]

I choose the Jack of all trades.

The master is unable to adapt to change, the jack of all trades is more versatile and able to excel at a wider variety of concepts and skills. In a survival situation, the jack of all trades would be the clear survivor. Nature teaches us that the ones who can adapt and utilize new concepts will be the one who survives.

I can't help but disagree. Someone who is at a master level of their craft should be professional enough to be able to keep up with current trends of said craft. Being inflexible in your trade will simply not allow you to maintain a high level of work. As the trade moves on, you lose the ability to keep up with others, whot hen become masters.

[Collegeguy]

I can't help but disagree. Someone who is at a master level of their craft should be professional enough to be able to keep up with current trends of said craft. Being inflexible in your trade will simply not allow you to maintain a high level of work. As the trade moves on, you lose the ability to keep up with others, whot hen become masters.

The way I look at it, you're blending them together here. Comparing Master with jack of all trades is a poor concept, but if you going to compare them, they can't contradict. A master shouldn't be flexible because that is something a jack of all trades would do. The way I see it, many professions can't really fit mastery because they're not specialized enough and bleed into other professions. Whether that is a fault of the concept, I don't know.

However, chew on this. If your going to receive a degree in something, employers are not really interested in someone who is book smart. You can have a 4.0 and get perfect grades being a conceptual master, but you will get turned down at the job by the guy with a 3.0 and has a large array of volunteer work under his belt. It shows that you're capable of multitasking, people skills, achievement skills, ect. At least in the business world of the employers I know.

[Nicola]

Jack-of-all-trades for sure.
Why would I care someone is better then me in 1 thing, when I own them in everything else they can even imagine.

[Deleted]

The way I look at it, you're blending them together here. Comparing Master with jack of all trades is a poor concept, but if you going to compare them, they can't contradict. A master shouldn't be flexible because that is something a jack of all trades would do. The way I see it, many professions can't really fit mastery because they're not specialized enough and bleed into other professions. Whether that is a fault of the concept, I don't know.

The master is flexible only within their field of mastery, so if, for example, you were a master tank commander, you would be equally as good in a Mark I as an M1A2 Abrams. The Jack would be equally adequate in the Mark I and M1A2, but would also be as reasonably good in a Swordfish biplane as a MiG.

I chose master, so I can accumulate vast wealth by specialising in a high-demand field.

[Airlick]

I'd certainly rather be a master, but unfortunately, I'm not. I'm doing fine in pretty much everything I try, but whenever I look at 'masters' in a given field, I feel like I'm worthless and I shouldn't even bother trying. So yeah, I'd prefer being a master.

[poser765]

The way I look at it, you're blending them together here. Comparing Master with jack of all trades is a poor concept, but if you going to compare them, they can't contradict. A master shouldn't be flexible because that is something a jack of all trades would do. The way I see it, many professions can't really fit mastery because they're not specialized enough and bleed into other professions. Whether that is a fault of the concept, I don't know.

However, chew on this. If your going to receive a degree in something, employers are not really interested in someone who is book smart. You can have a 4.0 and get perfect grades being a conceptual master, but you will get turned down at the job by the guy with a 3.0 and has a large array of volunteer work under his belt. It shows that you're capable of multitasking, people skills, achievement skills, ect. At least in the business world of the employers I know.

I was referring to flexability with the craft one has mastered. For instance, I am in aviation. When i first started something called a VOR dominated air navigation. Now that has changed to GPS. What those are is not important, but the fact is they are totally different and one has to be flexible to knew paradigms within their field to maintain mastery over it. I feel like I excel at my craft...I wouldn't say I've mastered it, but i do execute it at a high level. My remained in my old ways of using VORs there is no way I could ever master the field that has changed since i entered it.

Also a certain level of perspective never hurts, and knowing a bit about of lot of things can sometimes be a huge aid in one's particular skill or craft.

[Puck]

I can't help but disagree. Someone who is at a master level of their craft should be professional enough to be able to keep up with current trends of said craft. Being inflexible in your trade will simply not allow you to maintain a high level of work. As the trade moves on, you lose the ability to keep up with others, whot hen become masters.

I was speaking more from a survival situation. Nuclear winter, armageddon, plane crash etc

[poser765]

I was speaking more from a survival situation. Nuclear winter, armageddon, plane crash etc

lol well christ, that changes only EVERYTHING. Jack of all trades. that way i don't have to depend on others.

[bekilrwale]

Master. If you are average in everything then you can't really contribute anything to the human race that someone else can't, whereas a master is a gifted individual who has an actual chance at furthering humanity.

[Deleted]

Master of course.. being able to do almost everything but never be really good at anything does not sound fun at all.

[Deleted]

Master. If you are average in everything then you can't really contribute anything to the human race that someone else can't, whereas a master is a gifted individual who has an actual chance at furthering humanity.

You can contribute as a JOAT. :P