Jack of All Trades And Master Of None

That title fit the description of the title that I wore for a good portion of my employed career if it could be called that.

With the discovery of computers and subsequently Microsoft’s Small Business Server Back Office Suite, I began to delve into a product that I actually enjoyed working with.

With the advent of SBS 2003 and the Remote Web Workplace which was SBS’s “killer app”, that interest turned into a passion.

But, passion for something can only get us so far before we hit the wall called “The Piece Of Paper”. ;)

Most of us have hit it in some form of other when looking around for employment or vying to provide a new prospect a network solution.

Something that Vlad said on his blog in this morning’s post about 2010 is what inspired this particular post:

In 2010, I believe many of the larger MSPs will be taking up smaller MSPs for the benefit of having a seasoned veteran on their staff.

It is an inversion of the MSP pyramid (extremely business savvy personnel at the thin top with a wide base of lower cost technicians and helpdesk staff at the bottom) – changing to a wider assortment of business people on the top with very few or completely nonexistent technical staff (mostly outsourced) on the bottom.

What he says earlier in his post actually ties into a conversation I had with our sales contact at one of our local suppliers this week. That conversation centred around the fact that he was seeing the Jack of All Trades and Master of None (JoAT)  type IT providers disappear.

Essentially, both MSPs and business owners have learned that the JoAT has nothing more to offer them than a basic solution with no real _long term_ value.

The current economy has been one of the most significant catalysts of change that we have seen . . . probably in most of our lifetimes.

As a result of those changes, those of us that are relentless in our pursuit of mastering a product, group of products, and/or services will be the ones sitting on top in 2012 as Vlad predicts.

It is important to note that certification, the piece of paper, in most cases does not stand up on its own anymore. Most employers and business prospects have grown quite keen about figuring out who really has the technical savvy to back that piece of paper up.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer