The Age of the Polymath

I’ve tried working in so many areas. I used to code and wanted to become a developer. I did a bit of design. I love photography. I did venture investing. The outcome of this is a career as a generalist. And being a little bit of everything sometimes felt like a disadvantage because the world rewarded the people around who went deep on something. It turned out the breadth was useful anyway. I could talk to anyone and translate the ideas between engineers, executives, and reporters. That’s what I’m doing daily working in comms. But I always wondered what I would have built if I’d just picked one thing. Not anymore. Because using AI and agentic engineering to their full potential requires having at least the basics of all those skills simultaneously. The things I knew a little about — code, design, copy, marketing — suddenly composed and compounded. “An app designed by a developer” has been a meme for a reason. You’ve likely seen them and used them. They exist because developers know how…