Need Career adivce

sizeon

Is it better to be a generalist or a specialist in NYC?

N2IT

Not sure about the NYC part, but being a generalist in the beginning is nice because it gives you an opportuntity to touch several different technologies and then decide.

However jumping into a specialized role can become a lot more lucrative if you "luck out", example if you had a chance to learn SAP or some other sought after ERP you could ascend quite quickly.

Both come with risk.

The best way to handle this is figure out what you enjoy. For instance if you are in love with something [example C#], then development would be your calling imo. If you just know you like IT, but aren't passionate in one particular genre of IT, then I would lean torwards a generalist.

TLeTourneau

+1 to what N2IT said.

Start off as a generalist to get a broad base of knowledge and see if something specific grabs you. If you find something that you really enjoy then focus otherwise stay a generalist. Focusing on something you don't enjoy is the way to a job you don't like. There are plenty of people that are miserable for money, you need to decide if you want to be one of them.