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Are you a T-Shaped Developer?

Aellon on July 16, 2023

Up until now, I never put much thought into what type of developer I am. I studied a full stack curriculum at Flatiron School and I've focused on b...
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Alex Lohr • Edited

I am a Rohrschach developer. My knowledge is not evenly spread in lines, but rather blotted all over the place. The biggest blot is front end, with thicker drops on security and accessibility/usability, a few streaks over back end and systems development, smaller ink stains on testing, software architecture and documentation.

Long story short: don't try to put people into categories.

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Jean-Michel πŸ•΅πŸ»β€β™‚οΈ Fayard

I want to be put in the Rohrschach developer category, it sounds really fun!

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Alex Lohr

We're all in that category, but everyone has their own Rohrschach picture.

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Aellon

A Rohrschach representation is really interesting! I agree that most developers' skills and knowledge would naturally make more of an abstract shape than a perfect T.

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π’ŽWii πŸ³οΈβ€βš§οΈ

I wasn't aware of the termΒ "T-shaped", but I've always recommended people to aim for "Jack of all trades, master of one", which seems like about the same concept.

Having a very widespread understanding of the field is immensely helpful in communicating with others about their respective areas of expertise but also to just do smaller tasks yourself instead of having to bother someone else who could instead be solving the hard problems that really require their in-depth knowledge in that area.

Besides, fixating entirely on one thing is just boring; spicing it up with some adjacent skills makes it much less monotonous and helps with motivation.

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Aellon

Exactly, having some knowledge in adjacent areas makes a more well-rounded developer. Thanks for reading!

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Imam Ali Mustofa

This is the myth that I really admire in this world. Because I feel this is part of the meditation to deepen my character as a Software Freestyle Engineer.

DISCLAIMER: This comment was made via Google Translate (an AI tool used to translate languages, you may have forgotten so I reminded it). If the language I use seems odd, assume I'm digressing and trying to say something. Why should there be this disclaimer? Because I always considered ChatGPT!!!

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Aellon

I love the idea of a Freestyle Engineer!

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Imam Ali Mustofa

You should try that!!! Freestyle like Tony Hawk or Jump like a Mario!

DISCLAIMER: This comment was made via Google Translate (an AI tool used to translate languages, you may have forgotten so I reminded it). If the language I use seems odd, assume I'm digressing and trying to say something. Why should there be this disclaimer? Because I always considered ChatGPT!!!

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SeongKuk Han

I think I might have heard of it from somewhere. It would be good to figure the chart out that fits on me from others' chart. Thank for the post πŸ‘

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Aellon

Thank you for reading!

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Alfredo Prince

Why is PHP not included?

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Aellon

It certainly could be included. I personally haven't worked with PHP in a few years. This also circles back to what I wrote in the post, where my skills don't perfectly fit inside of a T-shape but rather extend into something more abstract. You can make the T-shape by customizing it in a way that works for you!

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Shailen Naidoo

I try not to buy into these sorts of labels.

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Caroline

Really cool article - never thought to look at it this way before!

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Aellon

Thanks for taking a look!