Am I happy being a utility player?

April 16, 2011

‘Forget Cristiano Ronaldo, John O’Shea has been our best player this season, what an inspiration!’ (Sir Alex Ferguson). *

Jack of All Trades, Master of None

It’s normally this time of year when I start to review what I have achieved in the last 12 months and attempt to update my CV with the  relevant detail.

In the last 10 years I have skimmed across a lot of roles, taking what I can from each position.

I have worked in many different industries and sectors; Software Development, Telecommunications,Local Authority, Academia, Manufacturing and lately in the Agriculture arena. I have an undergrad in Information Systems, and currently completing a postgrad in Management.

I am a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialisit (SharePoint 2007), I have passed my accounting technician exams, I have completed courses on digital marketing and delivering MS Office training.

I have occupied a myriad of roles;

  • Software Project Manager
  • Financial Reporter
  • Pre-Sales Consultant
  • Technical Writer
  • PHP Developer
  • Business/ Systems Analyst
  • MS SharePoint Technical Consultant
  • B2B Programme Manager
  • e-Procurement Developer
  • WordPress Developer and most recently what could be described as an IT Strategy Role.
The above is a just a sample of some of the titles I have been ordained with. Just reviewing this jargonised list once year causes the heart to quicken because realistically what do I do, and more importantly what can I do? Whenever my friends and relatives ask me what I do, I struggle to find the words to describe what I actually do for a living.  That ye olde phrase ‘Jack of all trades and master of none’ keeps coming to mind and being honest, I panic.
I read Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘The Outliers‘ a few years back and after I finished the book a great wave of sadness washed over me – I realised I would never be the ‘number 1’ at anything…ever…for the rest of my life. Gladwell argues that “there is no such thing as a self-made man. Instead, the years spent intensively focused on their area of expertise place the world’s most successful people above their peers.”

“What’s really interesting about this 10,000-hour rule is that it applies virtually everywhere,” Gladwell told a conference held by The New Yorker magazine. “You can’t become a chess grand master unless you spend 10,000 hours on practice. The tennis prodigy who starts playing at six is playing in Wimbledon at 16 or 17 [like] Boris Becker. The classical musician who starts playing the violin at four is debuting at Carnegie Hall at 15 or so.”
The obsessive approach is particularly evident in sporting icons. Jonny Wilkinson, the rugby player, Tiger Woods, the golfer, and the Williams sisters in tennis have all trained relentlessly since they were children.

The 10,000 hour rule also applies to other domains. The Beatles rose to fame with the explosion of pop culture in the 1960s but not until they honed their skills playing up to 6 sets a day on the Hamburg main drag drilling rock n’roll into their blood. Bill Gates’s fascination with the ASR-33 Teletype that he used at school in 1968 placed a shy boy on track to become one of the world’s richest man after spending well over 10,000 hours understanding what can be achieved by the machine at the time but also looking at endless possibilities contained within the little blinking box.

I always start to doubt myself and wonder is there really a role for a person like me – one who operates very much on the horizontal plane, learning a sufficient amount about a lot of different areas. I offer versatility and have maybe a shallow insight into many diverse industries but I have no one unique skill which I excel at.

Then I think of John O’Shea and I don’t feel so bad. O’Shea is what’s known as a utility player. He is versatile and has occupied many roles for Manchester United in the last 13 years. He originally started out as a striker but is now utilised as a defender for United playing in any of the roles across the back four. Ferguson even deploys in him midfield from time to time. Now, O’Shea may not be a first team regular these days but a couple of seasons ago, his versatility really impacted the united squad by offering not only cover but options. He offered a solution to varied problems United faced; be it injuries, a need for a defensive midfielder, an ability to switch to and from centre back and full back.

Now I hope that I am more consistent than O’Shea but I see certain similarities with my skillset and background. I realised that all the roles I’ve had across all spectrum’s of industry has given me a unique view on problems and allows me to think and react laterally. What I am good at and what I do is offer solutions based on my experiences. A prime example happened recently where I was able to apply work I had done in the digital health area to agriculture. I looked at the interface design used to help invalided and elderly patients alert somebody and realised it was very similar to the design used by farmers when operating machinery via control panels. I hypothesised  that this approach could be layered onto websites and could drive adoption of web based technology by farmers.

So now when any of my friends or family ask me what I do, I simply say ‘I solve problems’.

*Putting that quote at the start of this post really pains me as I am a life long Liverpool fan, YNWA!

2 Replies to “Am I happy being a utility player?”

  1. Connor Keppel's avatar Connor Keppel says:
    April 17, 2011 at 7:40 pm

    Well done Ethan. Great post. I feel like that often too. While to date I have stayed in the realm of marketing there’s many specialist niches. You sound like you have entrepreneurial aspirations – your rounded experience will be invaluable to you if you go down this route. The best masters are generally the ones that have served many. Best of luck with all and i’ll be following you here.

  2. ethancleary's avatar Ethan Cleary says:
    April 17, 2011 at 9:03 pm

    Ta for the encouragement Connor. The day and age of having a job title that ‘Mammies’ can understand outside of the traditional professions (Doctor,Solicitor)is gone.Is it better to spend 10,000 hrs siloed in one distinct area or to spend 3,000 hrs in multiple different fields.If I’m honest reckon I don’t have the attention span or the dedication for the former!

Comments are closed.

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com