Ask HN: Is it better to specialize in economic downturns?
When I apply to companies these days, most recruiters want to see experience relevant to the role that I'm applying for. I don't get callbacks for backend roles even though I've been a full-stack engineer.
Companies like Google now do team matching before the final round.
FB recruiter mentioned that you can have role-based interviews on the initial loop and final loop. So I could have different interviews depending on my specialization (frontend, backend, mobile, ar/vr).
I can understand that specialized interview processes make sense for senior+ roles, but I'm a mid-level full-stack generalist.
My main questions are:
1. Is there a shift in the industry in how interviews are being conducted?
2. Is it better to specialize in a specific role (frontend, backend, data engineer, ai/ml, ar/vr graphics) than to be a full-stack generalist?
3. Do specialized engineers have a better chance of landing (and/or retaining) jobs in the case of an economic downturn (layoffs)?
I feel that specializing seems to be the best path forward for me, but I'm curious if anyone else has sensed this shift or if I'm just wrong.
Comments
It probably varies a great deal by specialization, but speaking as a HM for my security group, specialization is miniscule almost to the point of irrelevance, in favor of attitude, ability to collaborate with other engineers, and leadership potential. Most - if not all - technical knowledge needed to succeed in this role can be learned, either on the job or with some spare time.
No at least from my point of view. I’m a team lead now. If my higher ups said okay your team needs to be half by next quarter I would prefer I had generalists capable of many things than a handful of very specialized folks.
It is interesting to hear that you prefer generalists. A glance at your profile tells me that you are a tech lead (focused on data engineering) and it looks like you are hiring data engineers -- which to me is a specialized role.
True. But I’m hiring for the data domain. That’s what I mean. I am not looking for super highly specialized compiler engineers but data engineers for a data role.