11 min read · Jun 4, 2023
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If you’re a person with a multitude of interests and passions and have the undying urge to explore new things and acquire more knowledge and different skills, although they may be poles apart from each other at times, you’ve probably been branded by society as a “jack of all trades, and master of none.”
It’s amusing, lacking any sense of reason and unbelievably annoying.
This has been the case with me throughout my professional career after graduating from college with an undergraduate degree in engineering. But before I tell you my story, here’s a bit of a delve into the origins of the term and how most importantly, it was re-invented after the turn of the 19th and 20th century, to include the “master of none” addition to the saying.
A bit of research on the term, reveals the following:
The earliest recorded uses of the label “jack of all trades” emerged in the 17th century and it didn’t actually include the second part — “master of none”.
Up until the 17th century the term was used simply as “jack of all trades” and was used particularly to admire and praise individuals for having multiple talents.
