A Quesion That Got Me Thinking

September 10th, 2025

Today, at work, I was asked this question: “Would you rather specialize or broaden your knowledge?” I didn’t know what to say, but I wanted to be both: knowledgeable in specific topics, while also knowing—or rather, understanding—broader topics. But that wasn’t what I said. I knew I needed to be more specific in a way that would make my boss choose suitable topics for me. Instead, I mixed my thoughts together and spoke complete gibberish. I wasn't embarrassed; I just didn't understand why I couldn't communicate any better than I did. But as you might already know, this question stuck with me. Now, I am speaking on my own behalf. I think that for a junior developer like myself, there is a much greater benefit in getting to learn the broader aspects of software development.

Why, you might ask? The reason comes down to the topic of software development itself. The term software development is much like the term sport—there are so many other fields that underlie the overall term of sports. Learning to wrestle won’t necessarily make you a much better runner, but it will indirectly improve your form, which relates to making you a good runner. In other words, broadening your vision helps you understand and more easily overcome specific underlying parts. The broadening also enables you to get your hands dirty in different parts, which can help you find where your interests lie.

The more that I think about it, the more I believe that my second answer to my boss wass the right one. What I said was something like this: “I want to be specific in my learnings, but because of my current skill level, I don't believe that would benefit me as much as learning different, more broad topics.” I don't really know where I'd like to go with this, but I hope this might help you realize that broadening might be better for a junior developer than specializing. At least, I think it will be for me.