Oracle Expert

Well, I have reached a point in my career (and my life) where I need to have a re-think. I have been working as a data architect covering various asset classes in the financial industries (read: a generalist), gaining respect and reconigition from senior managements and colleagues alike, something that I have found extremely enjoyable and rewarding. 

The irony is, being a generalist, I am supposed to be able to maintain the the big picture, to be able to do pattern matching, to abstract similarities between different business areas, however I feel that in reality, it is not the case. While I can be recognized to be very good, I want to be excellent, I want to be extraordinary. Something is missing. Generalists do not drive innovation and long-term results, specialists do. As an individual looking for career longetivity and personal satisfaction, I am terrified of the prospect of being complacent with being a ‘talented generalist’, knowing a bit of a lot of things, and experts at nothing. The grass is always greener on the other side, they say. Perhaps it’s true, but I am giving it a go.

So! I have decided to hang up my generalist uniform for now, and take a plunge to move to the risk management area within one of the largest banks in the world. I have set myself a 2 year goal, contribute, bring fresh perspective and imagination to the area, while setting a personal target to be a specialist in Risk technologies. With everything that is going with the current economic climate, I can’t think of a more exciting place to be than the area of Financial Risk Management.

In order to become a specialist in Risk-IT, I would need the gain the general knowledge and understanding of risk management  So will that make me a specialist in one hand, and a generalist in others? Doesn’t that beat the purpose of my career change anyway? Am I a generalist becoming a specialist, or a specialist becoming a generalist? I don’t know, and I don’t care. One thing is for sure, I can’t wait to start.