Specialist or Generalist in IT Consulting? Why the Label Matters More Than You Think

Understanding generalism, specialization, and how consultants actually get remembered—and sold in real life

Dec 17, 2025

The discussion around specialists and generalists usually starts with strong opinions and ends with vague definitions. Especially the word generalist has become surprisingly popular. Some people brand themselves as a “generalist” of one substance or another on LinkedIn, which raises a fairly reasonable question: what does that actually mean?

These people presumably don’t mean that they are Renaissance geniuses—equally at home in philosophy, mathematics, painting, and military engineering. Much more likely, generalism refers to something far more modest and practical.

Does it mean you can do many different jobs reasonably well? That you adapt quickly when the role, tools, or organization changes? That you’ve survived several reorganizations and lived to tell the tale? Or, in the most minimalist interpretation, that you can both read and write—occasionally even in different languages?

The problem is not that generalism exists. It clearly does, and it is often very useful. The problem is that the term is so loose and overloaded that it often explains very little. As a label, it sounds impressive while remaining frustratingly vague.

The Generalist Label and Its Hidden Ambiguity

In practice, many people who call themselves generalists are simply experienced professionals. Over time, experience accumulates. You learn technologies, methods, domains, tools, and organizational habits whether you want to or not. After a decade or two, almost everyone looks like a generalist on paper.

Branding yourself explicitly as a generalist is therefore a bit risky. It tells others that you can do many things, but it doesn’t tell them what they should actually call you for—and more importantly, hire you for. The listener is left to guess what matters most, which is rarely how good consulting gigs are found.

“I can do a bit of everything” may be true, but it is not a positioning strategy. It is a conversation starter at best.

Specialists Are Easier to Place—Even If The Specialties Are Not Narrow

Specialists, on the other hand, are easier to understand. They are associated with a specific type of problem, role, solution, industry, or technology set. This does not mean they only know one thing. Many specialists have broad backgrounds and could function in multiple roles if needed.

The difference is not competence but focus. A specialist has a clearly articulated core that others can remember and repeat. In consulting, this matters a lot. Sales, managers, and clients all rely on shortcuts. A named specialization is one of the most useful shortcuts there is.

How This Plays Out in Real Life

I’m a good example of this tension myself. Over the years, I’ve accumulated enough experience to survive just fine in several different consulting and IT roles—at least as long as deep technology skills are not required. On paper, the list is fairly long. In practice, however, that breadth only becomes useful once it is anchored to something concrete.

In my case, that anchor is high-level architecture, independent of the target domain. It is the core around which everything else makes sense and the lens through which my other skills are usually applied.

From there, the supporting skills start to surface quite naturally. I can write almost anything (poetry excluded), which would technically qualify me also for a career as a starving artist. I could also be a reasonably competent marketer. Still, neither option has so far resulted in a stable billing model.

The difference is the anchor. Without it, the description of my skills would turn into a long and slightly apologetic list. With it, the story becomes coherent. People may discover that I can also write, model, facilitate, analyze, support sales, and do some marketing—but those are supporting skills, not the headline.

Does Generalism Mean You Can’t Describe Your Skills?

Not necessarily. But it often leads to over-explaining. When you don’t have a clear core, you tend to compensate by listing everything you can do. Technologies, methods, roles, industries, tools, projects, workshops, courses, documents, meetings. The description grows longer with every sentence, but paradoxically becomes less clear, and less convincing. Somewhere along the way, the main point gets lost.

This usually happens with good intentions. You want to show versatility, experience, and adaptability. What the listener often hears instead is uncertainty about what actually matters most.

The practical problem is that this shifts the work to the other person. They now have to interpret your skill set, decide what you are really good at, and figure out where you might fit. In consulting, that is rarely how decisions are made. Time is limited, attention even more so.

Summary: Choose a Core, Not a Straightjacket

Most IT consultants are not pure specialists or pure generalists. In reality, we are closer to T-shaped professionals: broad experience combined with one clearly articulated core.

The key question is not what you can do, but what you are known for. Naming that explicitly does not limit you. It makes your competence easier to understand, easier to sell, and easier to remember.

And it reduces the temptation to describe yourself as someone who can both read and write—which, while useful, is rarely enough to stand out in IT consulting.

👉 So how do you currently position yourself: as a generalist, a specialist, or something in between?

See you next time,
Eetu Niemi
IT Consulting Career Hub 🚀

🎄 Holiday Pause

I’ll be taking a short break over the holidays and will be back in early January.
Until then, wishing you a calm end of the year—and thanks for following along.

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