Excellent piece. This feels like a grateful nod to the Jiros out there— obsessively toiling over a single cut of fish for 60 years in order to truly know the thing they’re studying. That narrow study ends up revealing far broader truths about life despite never venturing beyond the walls of the Sushi shop.
I do have one question: for workers in tech who share your industry-hopping path, wouldn’t you say that (unless you’re a founder yourself) staying within a single vertical is a rare privilege rather than a binary choice? With CA’s at-will laws being exercised regularly on the employer end and new industries popping up multiple times a decade (I’m looking at you Al, Web3, and American Dynamism), I’ve found it behooves tech workers to optimize for adaptability to the kind of problem they solve while still honing the same craft with every job.
I also suggest that specialization might be a great way to achieve excellence, some of the greatest breakthroughs tend to occur at the fringe or intersection of different disciplines. I believe this happens because you come to the problem with “fresh eyes” and may not be operating with all the baggage and presumptions that have ossified within a given field.
Wonderful read. Thank you
Nice essay! Any personal anecdotes/experiences that inspired it?
Excellent piece. This feels like a grateful nod to the Jiros out there— obsessively toiling over a single cut of fish for 60 years in order to truly know the thing they’re studying. That narrow study ends up revealing far broader truths about life despite never venturing beyond the walls of the Sushi shop.
I do have one question: for workers in tech who share your industry-hopping path, wouldn’t you say that (unless you’re a founder yourself) staying within a single vertical is a rare privilege rather than a binary choice? With CA’s at-will laws being exercised regularly on the employer end and new industries popping up multiple times a decade (I’m looking at you Al, Web3, and American Dynamism), I’ve found it behooves tech workers to optimize for adaptability to the kind of problem they solve while still honing the same craft with every job.
I also suggest that specialization might be a great way to achieve excellence, some of the greatest breakthroughs tend to occur at the fringe or intersection of different disciplines. I believe this happens because you come to the problem with “fresh eyes” and may not be operating with all the baggage and presumptions that have ossified within a given field.