[707] Adaptability

Everyone should be familiar with the saying "Jack of all trades, master of none." It basically means you can do a lot of things, but that you can't do any of them great. I usually hear it get used in a negative sense, meaning someone can do a lot of things but can't do them all in an exemplary way.

Well here's another perspective I just realized about jack of all trades. They are masters of something -- adaptability.

What do I mean by this? It means these do-it-alls can adjust and conform to whatever life throws at them. They can do almost anything which makes them pretty useful to have around. Specially if these "jacks" are pretty good at adapting.

Which brings me to this: I am now a VFX game artist for my current employer. I applied and was accepted as an animator, but because of my willingness to try new things I volunteered to help our relatively small VFX team.

I may not be as good as the software engineers we have on the team, but so far I can sort of hold my own with the requirements.

I never imagined I would do well, at least by my standards, with the VFX team and yet here I am doing pretty well and having quite a blast doing it. I guess because being a VFX artist involves having an artistic side to create the textures needed for the VFX as well as having a, er, "logical" (can't think of how to describe software engineers) side to implement the VFX in the game engine.

Thank God I was blessed with the ability to learn quickly. I believe I am not a hindrance to the VFX team, and I would like to think that I am helping a lot by being one of the two main guys who produces textures.

So if anyone calls you a jack-of-all-trades, try seeing it from another perspective. It might be the best compliment you can get.

Out.