Who needs to become a master of one?
August 29, 2007I'm sure most of you have heard the saying "jack of all trades, but master of none". In most cases, that statement is said in context of malice and indecency, often said by a user to harm the ego of someone he belittles precisely because that dude is a master of none, while he or someone he idolizes is highly experienced in a specific field to the point that he can be considered a master and an authority. In real life, here's what I, a jack of all trades, would say to someone who is a master of something: "Oh please! Please! Fix my car, oh master of mechanical engineering! How do I pay you if I'm a master of nothing? I'm gonna make a hip computer program. I'm gonna hire computer dudes to make them for me, get someone to sell that, and then pay you" I'm not a master computer programmer. I'm not a master salesman. But I know well enough of all those stuff to make something out of it. Who needs to be a master of cars to fix it? It's be a shame to waste four years of your life studying to be a master of something, but then wasting that four years of study not enriching your life not using what you studied in the way that you can actually say to yourself "Ahhhh… Now this is living" while lying down on a couch somewhere, spending time with the people you treasure.
Now, upon reading this, a master of something would actually act defensive. For the purposes of this essay, I am going to use a mechanical engineer as an example. There would be three imaginable, logical, in-this-world cases I could think of right now:
The "Hey, I'm a mechanical engineer and I get paid a lot by my company" condition
So you're a mechanical engineer working a 9 to 5 job for some company, and are getting paid a truckload of money for what you do. Then what? You're salary, with the amount of effort you're putting into your work, should be four times what you should be getting! The value of the time you put in is priceless, and just because you don't own the company. Remember that the office space rent, everything in the office bought under a loan from the bank, and the expensive-ass livelihood of the owners or bosses who come to the office only to check if you guys are working, all of these are being paid for by your own time and effort. Heck yeah your time is worth that much PLUS your own salary. This is way to many people to be supporting. After four or more years of hardship in college becoming a master of mechanical engineering, to be underpaid is such a waste of all your effort finishing engineering in the first place. That kind of work does not enrich your life. If you're passionate about mechanical engineering, wouldn't you want to just sit around at home taking apart a car and tinkering with it rebuilding it again. Or something to that effect, something leisurely. That my friend is a passion, and it enriches your life. But back to the point, you didn't need to become a master engineer to have that passion, it's just by chance that you have that. What you should do is start your own thing to generate income that will allow you, in the future mind you, to be able to spend your time at home, tinkering with that toy car, and that something earns you money while you do nothing. To do that you have to know how a lot of different stuff work to be able to put together something that will earn income. Yeah, that's right, you need to become a jack of all trades after all. But it's just a bonus you're a master of something, although it's not all that essential. Who needs it in the first place. I'm not saying no one should finish college, I'm just saying "master of none" is not such an insult after all and is in fact an insult oftenly used by lame ass people who think being a master of something is consequential to your own life. The true insult is "master of one, but not realy a jack of all trades" now that person is truly a loser, especially if you're only working for someone. You can't not work for someone if you're only a master of one and not a jack of all trades. We're in reality here, not in some star wars flick. If you're a master photographer, and are making money out of it, you are already a jack of all trades. You're no financial banker but know well enough to know how money works right? See my point? It's just a bonus you are a master of photography. It's your passion, which led you to master it in the first place, but you know how to make money, and the part that makes money is not your being a master of one, but the fact that you have a jack-of-all-tradesy working knowledge of both things that make you money.
The Hey I'm a mechanical engineer but I work short hours and have people work for me and I'm the boss or owner of company scenario
Shut up, because you're already a jack of all trades. You're the boss aren't you? You handle employees? Or if you're the owner, you're doing business? Are you a graduate of business as well? If yes, then you cannot be under the master category of which I speak of in this article. If you are both a mechanical engineer and a business graduate, you are a master of two trades. In this article classifies you under the of-all-trades category because you know how to link those two knowledge together and make money out of it, enriching your life ultimately because you work only 1 hour and then you get paid because you have good employees who only take about one-fourth of their salary every month while the three-fourths pay for the way you live, taxes, and that new sofa at the office which was bought from a loan.
The Hey I'm a mechanical engineer but work 9 to 5 at the company, which I own myself scenario
I know it's your passion to work on cars but then how stupid can you be? That's not the kind of thing that enriches your life. Go home and spend time with your family. Or if you don't have one, look for a wife. Or go to the arcade. Or bookstore. Go skydiving. Enrich your life. Loser. Lot's of money, but no life whatsoever. you're even more dead than that employee.
Bottom line is no one has to be a master of something, you just have to be able to have a working knowledge of a lot of stuff to be able to work something out of it, ear your income by not spending 40 hours working, not realizing you could have used that time having fun and saying "ahhh this is the life.." lying down some nice place. We all have one life after all. In the end being a master of none is not really such an insult as long as you, jack, know how to work the trades to earn you a living. A living, not just money.
Previous Comments
yeah, point taken. if you put it in that situation, where having a wife and kids is not their cup of tea, it really isn’t stupid. i used the specifics to illustrate a point, but didn’t consider the limitations of the specifics. good one, thanks!
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People indeed need to have working knowledge of a lot of things. You have a nice point.
However, I don`t think you can say that someone who devote his life to work on cars because it is his passion is stupid.
There are people who think having a wife and family isn`t their cup of tea. But I dont`t think we can call them losers.
Some find life in sleeping with cars 24/7 without skydiving or going to the bookstore. They find fullfillment in it. They find life in it.
Posted by J at August 29, 2007, 3:46 pm