Why Master of None?

First things first, this blog post is not about the show "Master of None". I personally love that show and would highly recommend everyone to watch it. 

This blog post is about how I came to use the phrase "Master of None" as a moniker to represent myself on the internet and why I continue to use it.

The first time I came across this phrase was when I was researching which stream of Engineering should I pursue in college. Ever since I was a kid, I was a hands-on learner. My toys usually would end up being disassembled as I had an innate drive to reverse engineer their mechanics. I succeeded in most of those little adventures. 

As I was headed into college, I was faced with a challenge to pick a stream and I was in a fix. I had a particular interest in Mechanical Engineering, but I was growing more fascinated by Electronics as I was getting older. I wasn't able to reverse engineer any of the electronic toys or handheld radios that I broke open, but some experiments/demonstrations in school with electro-magnetism definitely made me curious about them. At that time, it felt like picking a stream would be non-reversible action and I couldn't return back to the other one if I didn't like what I picked. 

While I was in that state of mind, I came across a certain college that offered B.Tech in Mechatronics and it seemed like that would be the perfect choice for me. Just around the time I finalized my decision, I did a quick google search for "Reviews for Mechatronics at MGIT" and came across an article in a local newspaper. Someone interviewed a handful of 3rd/4th year MCT students at MGIT and asked them for their opinion on the Mechatronics program. It was in that article that I first came across this phrase. 

One of the persons who was interviewed had stated that the degree would produce "A Jack of both trades and a Master of None". Although most of the reviews there were fairly positive, this one certainly had a negative tone. It made me a little uncomfortable then, but now when I look back it was true, but I am glad I stuck with my choice.

That person wasn't wrong. I certainly ended up being a Jack of both trades and Master of None. But I now consider being a Master of None has actually been better for me in my life. I took up a job at TCS as an Asst. Systems Engineer after graduating and then went on to pursue an MS in Robotics, which built up Mechatronics and Programming fundamentals that I was exposed to earlier through college and work. After completing my Masters, I took up a job as a Data Scientist for a short while and now I'm a Product Design Engineer.

I have picked up several trades over the years, some professionally and some as a hobby, and every one of them has helped me grow a little bit, both personally and professionally. I am a Mechanical Engineer at work, but I often fiddle tools like soldering irons, video editing softwares and unix shell scripts. This extra set of skills that I bring to the table, is what I believe, sets me apart from the rest of the Mechanical Engineering pool, especially in a startup or small business environment. 

The person who gave that interview in 2008/2007 believed being a Master of None is probably a bad thing, but I have grown to disagree and I now proudly wear my hat with multiple feathers.