So what’s the one thing you’re good in? Graphic Design? Asset Modeling? HTML/CSS? Scripting in a certain program? What do they all have in common? They are too specific. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that. Certainly, you can find a really good job in that field if you looked really hard, however, you’re at a disadvantage already. How can you get the advantage?

It’s time to become a hybrid.

What’s a Hybrid?

Now, I’m not talking about those new cars these days. A hybrid by definition (courtesy of Google) is a mixture of different parts into one whole thing. We’re not talking about just physical parts here, we’re talking about skills. So if you’re strong or knowledgeable in many different aspects, then you’re a hybrid. But you have to be careful thinking whether you’re a strong hybrid or a weak one.

You may be asking yourself…”What’s the difference?”

Let’s say, you’re strong in graphic design, and then randomly you’re strong in writing documents. Now, honestly, there isn’t much wrong with having those skills, but it’s definitely weak in the sense, you can’t apply the full potential of your graphic design skills to writing (although that can be debated). While on the other hand, if you were strong in graphic design, and then strong in web design, the two skills integrate with each other as you can use your principles in design to apply it to templates, and graphics that you would see on websites.

I believe that there is a correlation of skills that must be learned and taught efficiently to become a good hybrid. Designers would need to learn how to design websites, and code them. Modelers would have to learn how to model and texture everything instead of just being generalized in one field. Web developers should learn how to design and use photoshop to make templates for their own projects.

We want to make a person not just great in their one field of interest, but also good in the other fields related.

Why be a Hybrid?

Now, the most popular argument against hybrids and jack-of-all trades is this:

You’re just a jack of all trades. You know a lot, but you’re not an expert in any one of your skills.

True. I’m not going to argue. It’s obvious that a hybrid isn’t good in one skill when put into comparison of an expert in that field. However, that’s not what I’m telling you to be. I’m a strong believer that you must have ONE field that you are strongly happy to be in and know a lot about. However, what I am talking about is expanding that knowledge to related fields. For instance, if you’re a really good Programmer in C++, or some obscure language. Why be the best in that language, if you can also pick up other languages easily? Most programming languages contain or follow the same logic, keywords, and syntax. It’s almost stupid to just specialize yourself in one language. Here’s my argument to the above statement:

It is true that jack of all trades aren’t skilled in one whole field. However, that’s not the point. I want specialists to become hybrids. This doesn’t weaken their main skill. It strengthens it.

Why be a specialist? You’re only limiting yourself. A human brain has a capacity of probably 1-10 TB. Yeah, Google does wonders when trying to find information about the brain. However, that’s not helping my case, more just something intriguing to think about. If your brain is a computer like that, and we all know that brains are more complex in terms of the algorithms it uses to make your body function, there is no reason why you can not use that extra space to learn something new, or at least something related in your field so that it’s really not all that new (more like just adding an extra plugin to Photoshop).

The Advantages

So what’s this big advantage you get with being a hybrid? Your job search is more broad, and much easier. How? Let’s say, you’re a graphic designer. Obviously you want to get some jobs dealing with graphic design. Newsflash….You just limited yourself half the job market. From the trends I see, most people aren’t looking for just graphic designers. They want web designers, people that can maintenance websites, people that can manipulate photos, people that can code simple website, or create storyboards.

For me, my intention was a graphic design job. And where did I end up? I’m doing web design. Web design doesn’t just encompass graphic design and coding. You’d be surprised by the amount of stuff that entails in my job that I had to learn from my work, and by myself. Let’s list some examples. Remember, I’m just a graphic designer (technically not, I graduated from college with a BA in Game Design, so this is a prime example of how hybrids are)

Main Skill that I worked on
Photoshop (I don’t really call myself a graphic designer, but really the main skill I know is Photoshop)

Other skills I had to learn and be good in
Web Design
Print Design
XHTML/CSS
Illustrator
Flash Animation
Flash Website Programming
Javascript/Jquery
Wordpress
MovableType
Joomla
MySQL (How to make databases and import/export queries)
PHP (Basic coding)
Hosting Information/FTP (How to deal with it and get into people’s FTP)
and more on the way

You can definitely see a lot of skills that integrate and relate with one another, and overall they all build up a good library of information and turns you into a powerful tool that companies can use.

Honestly, from an employer’s point of view, if I can hire a person for $15 an hour, who would I chose? A person that knows how to do just Photoshop, or someone that knows how to do Photoshop, word processing, simple web programming, and a little of flash? As an employer, I’m going to get that hybrid, not only because he/she fulfills the spot that I need which is a Photoshop user, but I can abuse his/her other skills as well, and still only have to pay $15 an hour.

It’s a dirty trick by employers, but in today’s economy, they have to play smart with their money to grow their business. Plus, it’s not like you should feel abused. You should feel happy that you got the job, and you’re doing things you like to do. Not to mention, in the long run you’ll get raises and bonuses because of your hard work and skill set.

As the saying goes, your hard work pays off in the long run.

The Disadvantages

To all advantages, there are disadvantages. So what are disadvantages from being a hybrid? The obvious choice would be the whole good in all, great in none. For many college students and perhaps other people, that’s something you don’t want to get yourself into. You don’t want to go through college and through your life and say “Well, I’m pretty okay in a lot of things, but I’m not sure what I really want to do”. One day during your schooling or perhaps very late after your graduation, you need to sit down yourself and say, “Okay, I’m going for this, and going to strengthen that skill more than any”.

Trust me, I’ve been there.

My Experience

Based on my past, I wanted to do something dealing with programming even though I started graphics by making forum signatures back in my sophomore year in high school. I went to Collins College to pursue a degree in Game Design, most specifically programming games. However, I lost interest in it and felt like I wasn’t strong with it. I took visits with Career Services, and they analyzed my skill set and what I was really strong with. And overall, it lead to something dealing with design, and somehow it got to the point where I was aiming for doing interfaces for games. As I went through school more (this was about a term or so before graduation), I finally got some freelance jobs doing graphic design, and suddenly I fell in love doing it. And, I decided to go more broader than just interface design and just get into graphic design or really anything dealing with Photoshop (that’s pretty broad, right?).

And eventually, Career Services landed me a job with IntotheDarkroom based on my design skills. I really had no clue it was a web development firm. Of course I did my research of the company before I got there. During the interview, it went smooth, they asked about my skills, what I know, and such. A week later, I got a call for the job. And during my stay with this job, I learned a great amount from all my co-workers and have a fun time doing it. In addition, having a job that I love to do, gave me the incentive to even go home after work and learn even more in the field.

Conclusion

Whether you want to take the chance to become a hybrid or stick to what you’re doing, you do have to realize that it’s a fighting market out there. A lot of times in terms of designers and that industry, a designer is expected to know more than just Photoshop and Illustrator. Therefore to give yourself a better advantage in the job selection, you should expand your skills. I don’t want you to forget your main skill so you can concentrate on other things. Remember, keep it related and that’ll make your main skill so much stronger.

Got any comments, rebuttal, disagreements, or experience you would like to add? Feel free to comment below.

Subscribe and follow me on twitter @creativele for more updates and case studies.