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Jack-of-all-trades/specialists related to P/J?

Malcontent

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abcd
I have met a new person in a group (friend of some friends).
I saw him only one other time and I can't type him, but I am curious about what he said about specialization.

So, he said that he hates specialization, and he considers the specialists very boring people, and if someone also he's a master of one, ma he doesn't know the main facts in politics, entertainment, "today news" and so on... he is a fuc*ing idiot.

He's probably a jack of all trades (he changed some university degree and never finished one, he changed 4 works) and he seems to have a good but shallow general culture.

So, I ask you, he's for sure a strong perceiver or maybe other functions are involved? Are perceivers often not specializers and dislike specializers?

And you specializers here, are you all J?
If you got "attacked" in that way, what your answer would be?
Thanks.
 

FDG

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more likely to be related to E-I
 

INTP

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maybe EP related
 

Tallulah

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I don't know. I'm naturally more of a jack of all trades than a specialist. I can do a wide variety of things pretty well, and get bored with focusing on just one thing. I also feel like I'm never going to be as good as the top people doing the one thing well, so I tend to spread myself out a bit.

I'm a pretty strong P. I don't know that that's it, but I suspect it has a lot to do with it.
 

Malcontent

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@FDG
In my experience, the EJ people are focused in less area of interest than the IP I know.

@INTP
Yes, maybe the EP are probably the most jack of all trades, so the IJ the most specialists? Could be true.


@nebbykoo

To the extreme, yes. And it's difficult for me thinking a diagnosed adhd could be a J really.

@Tallulah
Exactly what I think.
 

Such Irony

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I'm kind of between the two extremes. There aren't alot of things I do extremely well and I don't feel particularly well-rounded either. I feel like I've gotten the worst of both worlds. :cry:
 

Qlip

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Yup, major jack of all trades here... def a P. I can do all kinds of skilled things mediocrely, auto repair, carpentry, music, baking, cooking, drawing, etc, etc.
 

wolfy

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I'm more of a specialist. I like to really learn something and want to become a maestro at it. Then there are lots of things I can do in a half assed fashion.
 

Rail Tracer

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Hard to say. I would probably be considered one of those Jack-of-All-Trades mostly because I haven't dedicated myself to being the best [insert "specialist" title here.] For this reason, I just learn what I learn, and do what I do.
 

SilkRoad

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I am an INFJ who has some jack-of-all-trades abilities, but I guess in a way I am a generalist within specialized areas.

In terms of work, I've mostly had office jobs, except for working in a bookshop and a library when I was younger. I have also done a fair amount of freelance writing but not so much in recent years. In the last few years I've worked in publishing/the arts, which is certainly my area of speciality. (That was after working in the airline industry, in office jobs, for several years, which was irrelevant to my training etc, but great for travel perks.) However, I currently have a job which requires a lot of different skills in different areas - publishing coordinator for an organisation which offers speech and drama qualifications. So I edit publications (which can be anything from writing/editing dry articles about changes in the educational landscape, to selecting poetry for anthologies, to adapting a scene from a novel into a dramatic duologue, etc), but also process sales orders, take calls and queries about publications etc. I had a job with a major publisher for a while (contract) which involved coordinating and overseeing a massive publishing schedule and coordinating all sorts of related aspects.

So, a lot of my work has been in the writing/literary/arts field - but within that, I've done everything from selling books to shelving books to writing to editing to customer relations to scheduling to sales and even a bit of IT-related work...

Don't know if that answers the question. I am definitely J, but not a very very strong J, I think - or less so than I used to be, probably partly due to a lot of fluctuating life circumstances. I am adaptable and generally easy going and I think I've been handed a lot of different things, or shown myself capable of jobs with a lot of variety, for those reasons.
 

skylights

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i'd be a jack of all trades. i don't really dabble though, i like to achieve a definite competency level and then move on.
 

Chaotic Harmony

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Definitely a jack-of-all-trades... Makes deciding on a major a real pain in the rear. :doh: For the most part I'm content with it... I can do most things on my own with little help.... And, uh, a little time. :cheese: It's not too bad, I think I'd rather be a jack-of-all-trades and be fairly self-reliant than a specialist and miss out on some stuff.
 

Eckhart

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I think I am more of a jack-of-all-trades, and I find that position to be more appealing to myself also.

edit: Probably that's why I also chose business informatics instead of just informatics for study. Studying basically informatics and (business) economics.
 

Snoopy22

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Group jobs into categories and most people tend to specialize in specific areas (although having been at many jobs). Approximately 60% of my jobs since the 80’s (19) would fall into an analytical classification.
 
G

garbage

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Group jobs into categories and most people tend to specialize in specific areas (although having been at many jobs). Approximately 60% of my jobs since the 80’s (19) would fall into an analytical classification.

There's an element of this in 'generalist' jobs, yeah. You can analytically classify many things--economic portfolios, DNA chains, psychological profiles--but you're still analytically classifying across the board.

Now, if you're doing budgets, research, logistics, and management all at work and guitar, cooking, sewing, and rock climbing on the side.. there's a 'jack of all trades.'


Me? I'd love to be good at lots of stuff. Polymaths rule.
 
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