Marketing Yourself as an IT Jack-of-All-Trades?

ultimatemonty asks: "As an IT professional looking for a new job, I'm trying to figure out how to market myself as a 'jack-of-all-trades' IT worker. I'm currently employed at a medium sized university as a video conferencing specialist. I'm good (competent) at many IT related tasks (Linux server management, programming, Windows/Linux desktop support, video conferencing support, etc...), but specialize or excel in none of them, sort of like the lone IT manager in a small shop. What kinds of jobs would the you look for with this kind of work experience, and how would you market yourself (design your resume, cover letter, and so forth) to prospective employers so they get the full-breadth of your capabilities, without over-stating your abilities?"

it generalist

[192939495969798999]

as a generalist, you could qualify as "sysadmin" at a smaller shop, which because of their IT budget, usually means "guy that knows how to do everything for us". I'd emphasize creative problem-solving abilities and a drive to arrive at good solutions quickly.

Of course, you'll want to avoid coming off too arrogant -- no one wants to hire an I.T. jackass-of-all-trades, but we all know a few!

Go small

[sheetzam]

I found myself in a similar situation, and found a place that suits me perfectly. It's a small development shop. I'd definitely recommend trying to find a smaller company; the smaller, the more freedom you have to use all your skills. Seems the larger the company, the more specialized they believe their IT folks need to be. The smaller, the less particular jobs are a specific person's responsibility. Just my two cents.

Overstate your talents

[Webdude]

I would say overstate what you know in your resume, any technology you have touched for more then 5min should be on there. If you are good at picking things up and understand how technology works in general you are way better off then 95% of IT workers out there. I work as a consultant and I see people with 10+ years of experience on a single product and in 20min of reading a manual i am more proficient in it and able to do more. There end up to be two types of people that interview you, one that looks for the bullet points and if you don't have them you don't move forward, second the tech person who should be more interested in your base knowledge and your ability to learn then knowing some small detail.

Re:Don't do that

[CastrTroy]

While I find a Jack of all trades very useful myself, and consider myself to be in that category, I don't think a lot of companies are looking for that. Most mid to large size companies like people to do very specific tasks with very specific job descriptions. Somebody who is a jack of all trades would probably fit in a lot better at a small company, which is where I happen to be, because they will have much more opportunity to work in many different areas. Small companies don't have entire teams devoted to database design, UI design, middle tier design, requirements gathering, architecture, testing, and all those other areas of software design, so the people who do work for small companies probably get to see at least a little bit, if not a lot from all those areas. Also remember that the full term is "Jack of all trades, master of none", however, I consider myself to be a "master" or at least really good in quite a few areas, and the all the rest of the "trades" just really help to back that up.

Re:it generalist

[erroneus]

Indeed, or if you seek "more money" the best you will get is "IT Manager" or possibly "IT Director" for a small to medium business. Those jobs are out there but they are sometimes tough to find. To land those, I have found that "customer service" and "good shopping and delegation skills" are items to list on a resume. They know "one guy can do it all" on a day-to-day basis, but for anything where there are projects to execute, they expect you to be able to pull in outside help.

This is how you grow into management.

Interview well...

[ktakki]

I've been on both sides of the desk with regards to IT staffing and interviews. The resume and cover letter were the least important factors. For me, the interview was most important, followed by professional references. This is not meant to belittle the value of a comprehensive and professionally done resume. I'm of the opinion that you should place more emphasis on the interview(s).

If I were the interviewer, I'd want to know that you can solve problems without creating more problems. That you know when you don't know an answer. That you know how to find the solution. That you're presentably dressed and groomed. That you are at least competent when it comes to communication and interpersonal relations. To me, these factors are more important than a list of operating systems you've administered. The "IT" part of "IT professional" is relatively easy, a solved problem at the very least. It's the "professional" part that eludes some people.

k.

Re:Overstate your talents

[CastrTroy]

I recommend against this. As soon as I see a resume for a programmer position with people saying that they know Photoshop, MS Excel, 3DS Max, Adobe Acrobat (yes, I've seen that on a resume), scheme (I know it's related, but did you ever really use it outside that second year CS class) and other completely unrelated skills, or listing things that I'm sure they aren't really that proficient in, I start to think about how they have nothing of real substance to fill up the resume with and toss it in the garbage. You should be able to demonstrate that you have the skills necessary for the job, and to show what projects you've actually done (for school, fun or employers) and not just pad the resume with every piece of software you've ever used.

Options

[br00tus]

One option is, as you stated, a small shop or group where you are doing everything.

I really think the next easiest option is to look at the things you have done and specialize in what you like the most. If you like programming, learn to program well, be able to answer basic questions like what is a linked list (or more complex questions) - learn one language well, as well as the basics of programming that you find in books like "Code Complete". If you like server management do that.

I am a UNIX systems administrator, and for me, even this is a very broad definition. I understand that firmware/time-of-day should be in sync across CPU/memory boards on Sun Enterprise 4000's, or that the file /etc/redhat-release is the file which shows which version of Red Hat you are running, but I can tell you it is very, very rare in interviews to find people who would know both those things. You're lucky if someone "strong in Linux" even knows that about Red Hat. I have to say that Solaris people tend to know their stuff better (and this is coming from a Linux fan). So I consider it difficult to bridge these two things, which are very close, and you are talking about all over the place.

My suggestion would be to specialize in one thing, and learn it well. I had to rank a Google job application on how well I knew something, I forget if the scale was 1-10 or not, but you should specialize in something and get to know it as a 9. Being a jack of all trade is fine, meaning having 3-6 ability in other things, but you should know one thing well - something you enjoy and think has a future. Once you master that one thing, then you can work on getting other things up to 9, but I meet so few people who are at level 10, 9, or even 8 for what I need, I would reiterate to learn one thing well. A real jack of all trades knows multiple things at say an 8 level, but that is rare. We have one where I work, but he knows many things at a high level. Someone who knows lots of things at a 4-6 level I generally find useless, in any environment.

Re:Overstate your talents

[eln]

When we do technical interviews, our policy is that anything on the resume is fair game to ask questions about. So, if someone comes in with a laundry list, we'll try to find a question to ask about some obscure technology they say they're proficient in (nothing too tough, just something that someone who knows the technology would know). This will tell us how much they're trying to puff themselves up.

We'll also ask progressively harder questions in each category that we have expertise in just to see what they do when they start becoming unsure of themselves or just flat don't know the answer. We are much more impressed by someone who simply says "I don't know" than someone who tries to bullshit us. If you don't really know a technology, don't go around pretending that you do.

Re:Interview well...

[CastrTroy]

The resume is unimportant once you get the interview, however, for getting the interview, a good resume and cover letter is essential. Spelling and grammatical errors get an automatic circular file, as do padding the resume with useless information and just listing things that you may have used for a week. If you can't name and describe a significant project in which you used a certain skill, then it doesn't belong on your resume. With the quality of some resumes I really feel sorry for some people, because they will probable never get a job. If you're writing skills are that bad, at least do yourself the favour of getting professional or possibly a friend to help you compile a resume. Something like this is definitely worth it.

Re:Overstate your talents

[CastrTroy]

Asking questions about what people put on their resume should be standard practice, especially when they write a laundry list. First if they really do know all the stuff they listed, it's probably a good idea to make sure you find a position in your company for them, even if it's not really the one your interviewing for, because people like this are few and far between. Second, if they don't really know the technology, then you don't want to hire them at all, in fact you want to rule them out as soon as possible, because the people who lie on / embelish their resume are the kind of people you don't want to be working with.

Re:Don't do that

[jafac]

What the parent poster said.

And also; make sure you are able to talk about Your Own Initiative:
Projects you managed. Problems you discovered and fixed, on your own, without oversight. Also, if other techs come to YOU for advice, detail those happenings as well.

If you're the go-to guy, and can be trusted with a small budget, and a certain amount of autonomy to come up with fixes to long standing annoyances that nobody else thought of even trying to solve (overcoming organizational inertia) - then try to convey that. Most managers would give their left nut/tit for this kind of worker. (and often, this kind of worker is misclassified as "junior").

Bottom line is: breadth of skill does nobody any damn good, if that skill does not come with initiative. Breadth of skill is difficult for a busy manager to manage. That level of management is usually tasked with fighting fires with his or her immediate superiors. They're too busy to task you - so you put your skills to good use, be everyone's hero.

Either synthesize, or wear multiple hats

[Wordplay]

It really depends. Your targets probably are small shops and startups, particularly if you have any real experience, unless you can find a position that touches the bulk of your skillset.

My own resume is about 5 years of programming, a year or so of build/release, and 6 years of QA, along with a lot of general IT and strategic skills. For a while, I had problems with dilution--I wasn't really in the programming space anymore, didn't have enough build/release to be more than junior there, and didn't have enough QA to make it a slam dunk to pay me at my overall experience level.

In my case, I went to software test automation, which synthesizes all these skills, and have done quite well in that space. But in addition, I regularly get hit up by startups who want to cover two or three hats with one person. Eventually, with enough experience, you'll be in demand if you can ride out those early years.

The trick, if you go that route, is you really need to be quite competent in everything you sell yourself as (or at least be able to inspire confidence until you can get to the man page or O'Reilly book). Otherwise, you're only really as marketable as your best skill. That's why it can just be a lot easier to concentrate on one thing. Of course, if that skill goes overseas or otherwise becomes obsolete in the local workforce, you're screwed.

An awful lot of "doesnt work" replies

[StewedSquirrel]

There are an awful lot of "that doesn't work" sort of replies, but I'd beg to differ.

The jobs are MUCH harder to find than specialized jobs, because you'll be working for a small firm- a startup, or some other limited size organization. They wont' be the ones posting on monster.com - craigslist, maybe, but not the big job sites.

If you don't find anything by casually looking around, you might want to get creative and inventive. I landed a job once by directly approaching the owner of a company who was growing 300% per year and selling the idea of "do it right from the start" sort of IT approach. Actually, it was a 6 month contract with the option to hire me at the end (which I refused, even though he wanted me). I set up Active Directory, established policies and procedures, built up their infrastructure, data storage, accounting and upgraded their workstations. I built their website into something useful instead of boring and empty and I built a helpdesk that could help manage the company as it grew bigger.

I'm currently "IT Director" for a small company. I only have one person working for me, but I'm paid alright. I think folks are right when they say that generalists have a salary cieling. It's a unfortunate truth that unless I'm willing to go into corporate middle-management where I could potentially make a ton of money, but be busy in board meetings and very rarely get my hands dirty, I'm stuck with a 5-figure salary. High 5-figures, but still stuck. However, within a startup, you can position yourself as a driver of ideas and perhaps end up in upper management as the company grows. There are additional benefits such as stock options, profit sharing and such, that are not available to your average specialized techie within the corporate world.

The stock options from my previous employer are starting to look very tantalizing as there are rumors of a buyout or IPO circulating. Suddenly, 10,000 shares begins to look like $500,000 and my time stuck behind a $70k salary quickly begins to morph into an actual paycheck of more than $200k per year, but on the other hand, a poor startup can end up costing you money as you find yourself working without pay now and then when money is tight, only to see the company fold just as you are expecting a Christmas bonus.

Fortunately, my recent experience has set me up as a bit of a security specialist and I've begun to do some contract work for a large security company, deploying firewalls, security appliances and such. This job, if i were to take it full time, would definitely be a 6-figure opportunity and would lead to potential future contracts with customers that often pay 6-figures for 6 months of work doing highly specialized security deployment and management.

Re:Don't do that

[Marxist Hacker 42]

Exactly right- and he even gave the real answer in the article:

sort of like the lone IT manager in a small shop.

That is EXACTLY the position a jack of all trades should be going for.

Big or Small

[Gybrwe666]

You really didn't specify what kind of company you prefer. And the answer to your question will come down to that particular preference.

If you want a job in any Mid-Enterprise ($200M to $1B annual revenue) size company or above, you will generally *NOT* be a jack of all trades. These companies generally have HR personnel, and are big enough that managers are generally not plopping down on Monster.com and finding resumes. As such, any HR person or recruiter is going to cull resumes (no matter where they get them from) based on a few keywords. If their looking for a NOC technician, they'll search for network, monitoring, Cisco (or whatever the infrastructure is) and maybe a few other key pieces (CiscoWorks, etc.). If they find a resume with those keywords duplicated a few times, especially over a few jobs, they'll pass it on to the hiring manager. If they don't see those words, they generally just bit-bucket it and move on.

As such, as many other have mentioned, if you are looking at any larger organization, you need to target your resume to a real job. Sending in resume's randomly not knowing what jobs are open won't work. Sure, they'll have a policy that resume's submitted need to be kept on file for X months, but my experience is that older stuff, which isn't fresh in the persons mind, just never gets dredged up.

For full disclosure, my company does IT staffing, although I'm not in that portion of the business. However, I've now seen that from the inside and out, and every company we work with, and every staffing firm we work with, they all work the same way.

Now, if you're going for a small company, with fewer than 100 employees and not much in the way of critical needs, then you can play the jack of all trades and get away with it. These companies can't/won't afford an expert in each technology, and mostly need someone with enough knowledge to keep the running on a day to day basis, as well as plan for the future as it comes along. However, such jobs can be a pain (you'll never know when you'll simply get deluged with 20 broken laptops in one day right after the email server gets hit with a spam onslaught and the local phone company suddenly decided to route your main DID number to another county. And they can also cause stress in the sense that in many of those companies you'll be close enough to top management that you'll be forced to interact with them, but many, if not all, won't have a clue about what you do. Justifying upgrades can be a real pain in the a$$, and the overtime can get old.

I have a good friend who works for a fairly famous small firm here in my town. He's the go-to guy for everything more complicated than an electrical pencil sharpener. The smartest thing he ever did was go to the owner early on and let her know that there were some things he couldn't do, some things he wouldn't do, and there were times when he wasn't going to be able to do them. For each of these things, he gave her a strategy for supporting them (say, having service contracts on ultra-high end printers, or having a local company that could provide on-site and phone support when he went on vacation a few times a year.

So it really depends on what you want, and what kind of company. You have to tailor your resume and job search to that segment.

And remember: the best jobs never get posted on the internet, but get snapped up via word of mouth within days of someone deciding they're going to hire someone. Never, ever underestimate the power of networking and talking and keeping in contact with people from your past.

Bill

Re:Interview well...

[ktakki]

I don't disagree with your points; consider the part of my post that refers to "the value of a comprehensive and professionally done resume".

But resumes, like some job applicants, lie. Were we to accept job applicants on the basis of a resume without an interview and a reference check, we'd be fucked.

I can embellish my resume from here to Timbuktu. Bullshitting my way through an interview and getting references to lie for me is an exponentially harder problem.

k.

Re:Pick one and become an expert

[RabidMonkey]

Some people don't want to be experts - I have absolutely no desire to be an 'expert' at anything. I am a generalist and have found a few roles where that is a bonus. And where there isn't a "need" for a generalist, I can go in to a specific role and branch out, letting my general skills help out where they can.

"If you really are competent then the step up ..." - I don't like the implication there. I am very competent, but I would find it exceedingly difficult for me to become "great" at any one part of my knowledge. I don't like to focus on one thing - I read multiple books at a time, I watch movies and read at the same time, I listen to music and surf and cook. I move from Windows to Linux to databases to development to application support to web to systems management many times a day, and I do them all well. Not everyone is made to become GREAT at things. I am a poster child for ADD and I think it's a great skill.

Not everyone wants to be an expert, and I don't think that should detract from their usefulness - like anything, you just need to find the right spot to apply your skills.

Re:Don't do that

[BVis]

Make sure you print out your resume, while you're at it. Just because you warned someone about something and they refused to authorize a fix, doesn't mean that you won't get blamed for that something. In a working environment where people can be fired for no reason whatsoever, don't think that your PHB won't throw you under the bus to save his/her own ass.

It sounds like you need a new job anyway. If they're paying you for your expertise and recommendations, and then refusing to adopt them (or even to listen to them, which is what this sounds like) then they're setting you up for failure. Dust off the resume, friend.

Might be a good idea to get some alphabet soup to put on the resume before you do that. Sounds like you could start with at least the Network+, if you don't already have it, then possibly a Cisco cert. You might not learn anything from these courses (less so the Cisco certs), but the alphabet soup gets you past the HR morons and gets your resume in front of the people who matter.

And for the love of the FSM, pull your personal equipment out of there. There's no excuse for that.