Ex-Big Tech Dev on Why He Renamed Himself 'Applied Generalist' — and Backs the MTS Movement
signulll · x · 2026-10-28
signulll recalls changing his visible title to "applied generalist" nearly a decade ago at Big Tech, refusing to be pigeonholed as a PM who can't code, a code monkey, or a pixel pusher.
He argues legacy companies remain organized around narrow roles, levels and career ladders — where your position dictates both your work and how people treat you, as when VPs couldn't figure out how to interact with him.
That's why he sees AI companies' Member of Technical Staff movement as essential: companies that don't adopt more generalist org models will alienate people who can perform across the spectrum.
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