The Curse of Versatility

Versatility is supposedly a desirable trait that can make you stand out in the job market. A programmer who knows many technologies becomes a tempting target for recruiters, not only because they can send them offers for various positions but also because their experience may be very valuable in a project. I like to describe myself as a versatile programmer. I've prepared a few insights drawn from my own experiences.

How to Understand Versatility?

I understand it not only as knowledge of different languages, frameworks, and technologies. Versatility is also the ability to find your way in different styles of project and team management. It certainly includes experience in different types of businesses as well. I consider myself versatile, not only because I know Ruby, React, ReactNative, Flutter, Amazon Web Services, but also because I've worked on corporate projects, in software houses, product companies, and I've run my own business.

Thanks to Versatility:

You're More Attractive in the Job Market

Often, the specifics of projects require broader experience in various domains. Additionally, for example, Java or C# programmers often find themselves very comfortable in Ruby.

You Won't Perish

It's easy to adapt; you won't perish in the job market because there will always be a company needing a commando who can hammer out backend code, implement design, and even configure a server. And I probably don't need to say that such a commando has a good chance of negotiating a slightly higher rate, right?

You Don't Limit Yourself to One Solution to a Problem

Having certain experience and knowledge from different technologies, you can propose several solutions for the same problem and choose the most appropriate one.

You Can Eliminate Garbage

You know what works and what doesn't. You can more quickly catch when someone is using a tank to kill a fly.

You Never Get Bored

You can easily change projects and types of tasks. You easily find your way in a new reality. You enjoy experimenting.

Okay, but it's not all roses, is it?

Being a Versatile Developer in Your Company:

You're a Gap Filler

You do everything that someone else doesn't want to do or can't do. You're a budget option for completing a project that may not be particularly crucial, but recruiting a dedicated person would take time and burn money, and they're paying you a salary for that time anyway.

You Constantly Learn New Things

The speed of learning is a trait of versatile people. You learn quickly. So what? Won't you learn a new thing? Even one you never wanted to touch? Yes, you will, because you're versatile and you understand business and the dependencies of this world well. You'll learn because you like your employer, because you want to complete this project and move on to something else. And so you're constantly learning new things that, in most cases, you'll use once in your life.

You Might Do What You Don't Like

Even the most versatile programmer has something they feel good about, their golden zone, favorite language, framework, piece of the application, but they also know many more things that others don't like. It's very possible that you'll encounter a situation where you constantly do things that nobody likes. For example, you're a fullstack developer with a frontend bent, but you still constantly get tasks involving query optimization instead of new animations on the frontend.

They Don't Pay Much

I already said above that there's a good chance that such a versatile programmer can negotiate a higher salary, but... But it may be that you'll be doing a ton of things that others in the team can't or don't want to do, and your rate won't differ much from others at the same level. But how is that? After all, you're so versatile that you should be earning more. Well, the salary policy at your company may think quite differently... Frustration is waiting just around the corner.

You're Not a Specialist

You supposedly know many different things, but you've never really had time to seriously dive deep into one technology, one issue, because you're constantly jumping around. There's a good principle: Know everything about something and something about everything. It's nice to know a lot, but you can't forget about specialization.

Impostor Syndrome

The impostor syndrome enters very easily in such a situation. After all, you supposedly know a lot, but in reality, you can be stumped on any topic, because... well, you lack that specialization.

You'll Be a Bottleneck

You handle many different things in the project that no one else is able to do. At some point, it starts to overflow. You begin to be a bottleneck because apart from you, no one is able to push the work forward. People start to demand. Questions begin to annoy, and then it's very possible that...

Burnout

Lack of satisfaction from work in such a situation is the minimum of what might await you. Jumping between topics, the pressure of being the only one, deadlines, questions, fatigue.

These are just the dangers you might encounter if you consider yourself a versatile programmer and are perceived as such in the team. I'm not saying it will happen, but it's always good to keep warning lights in the back of your mind.

The versatile programmer. Experience in different categories of business and team structures. Knowledge of many technologies from backend, through devops, frontend and mobile. This is a profile ideally tailored for a startup, especially in the initial phase, where the entire team is made up of multitasking commandos trying to deliver unique value to the market as quickly as possible.

Fullstack developer – versatile programmer. We live in a time of technology fragmentation. Maybe fewer such fullstacks will develop due to the strong separation of layers in applications into backend and frontend? Or maybe not, as shown by the world of Javascript with Node and frontend frameworks, where Node teams in most cases don't have a hard division between frontend and backend developers.

Versatility is a blessing. Versatility is a curse.