Finish the Phrase: A Jack of All Trades…
Written by: Samantha Zeleznik
If you’re not a child prodigy, there’s a decent chance you’ve been called a “jack of all trades” at least once in your life. It’s usually delivered with a polite smile. Sometimes it’s a compliment. Sometimes it’s… not.
Say you grew up like me. I was never the kid who decided they wanted to be a veterinarian after their first horse sighting and never looked back. My parents instead plopped me into sports, art and music from the time I was young—none of which really stuck long enough to define me.
Because of that, the saying for me tended to sting… “a jack of all trades…” And that’s where it usually stopped.
Background
The phrase itself actually dates back to 1592, when playwright Robert Greene (or possibly one of his contemporaries) wrote a pamphlet titled Greenes, Groats-Vvorth of Witte. In it, Greene takes a jab at a rising playwright, William Shakespeare, mocking him as a “Johnny-do-all.”
In other words: a jack of all trades.
At the time, Shakespeare had recently transitioned from actor to playwright, and Greene’s insult was meant to cut sharp. Nothing bites quite like a good Renaissance-era insult.
The phrase stuck, though its meaning shifted over time. Sometimes it was used positively, sometimes negatively. That ambiguity lasted until the phrase was extended to what many of us know today: “A jack of all trades is a master of none.”
Enter “Master of None”
The addition of master of none reframed the phrase as criticism rather than observation. Suddenly, being versatile wasn’t admirable. It was evidence that you hadn’t committed to anything.
For creatives, this sentiment shows up everywhere, taking shots at the likes of those expected to squeeze out skills like toothpaste, under the guise of one job title. I remember realizing in college that “graphic designer” could also mean photographer… and videographer… and marketer… and copywriter… depending on who was asking.
If you’ve ever looked at an entry-level job posting, you know the feeling:
Entry-Level Marketing Intern
Required Qualifications:
5+ years of professional marketing experience
7+ years of experience in Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, Canva, Final Cut Pro, Blender, and Microsoft Paint
Ability to code in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, and whatever our website runs on
3+ years of experience in professional photography with your own full-frame camera body
FAA drone pilot certification preferred
Experience managing $500K+ paid media budgets
Bachelor’s degree required; MBA preferred but not mandatory
Soft Skills:
Marketing guru and coding ninja
Self-starter who requires zero training but is eager to learn
Takes initiative but also waits for direction
Highly creative but aligned perfectly with brand guidelines at all times
Detail-oriented but fast
Thrives in fast-paced environment
Comfortable wearing many hats
The jack-of-all-trades mentality has become deeply baked into many creative roles. Designers are expected to shoot photos. Photographers are expected to edit video. Marketers are expected to write copy, design graphics, analyze data and somehow keep up with the ever-changing world of digital platforms.
While versatility can be incredibly valuable, the pressure to be everything at once can quietly push young professionals toward burnout long before they’ve had the chance to grow into any one specialty.
The Moment That Changed My Perspective
Early on in my career, I already had a track record of being exactly that: a jack of all trades.
As I stood on the cusp of full-time employment my final year of college, struggling which “trade” to choose, one very smart woman provided me with insight I still think of to this day. In a fit of stress, I had exclaimed to her:
“I have no idea what I want to do with my life!”
She smiled and responded:
“Well good! Because neither do I!”
Seeing my confusion, she continued.
“No one knows what they want to do for the rest of their life. Heck, most people don’t know what they want to do in the next ten years. Right now, ask yourself where you want to be in five years and start there.”
It sounds simple, but that conversation completely shifted my perspective.
Enter “But Oftentimes Better Than a Master of One”
For years, I had only ever heard the first half of the saying: “A jack of all trades is a master of none.”
But the phrase doesn’t actually end there. The full version reads:
“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.”
Sitting in that office, hearing her advice, I suddenly realized something; I had far more years ahead of me than behind. There was no rule saying I had to pick one identity and stick with it forever. At the time, I had been so focused on picking the RIGHT path that I almost forgot to pick A path. Being presented with an overabundance of choices blinded me from the value of making a choice and running with it.
The idea that you must choose one trade, one passion, one perfectly defined lane for the rest of your life is a strangely modern pressure – when in reality, most people spend their lives learning, pivoting and occasionally failing at things they never expected to try in the first place.
In that office, being a jack of all trades suddenly didn’t feel like a weakness. It meant I could participate in almost any conversation. It meant I wasn’t afraid to try something new, even if I was terrible at it. It meant I could bounce between interests without feeling like I was betraying some predetermined life plan.
Sure, a jack of all trades may never measure up to the person who dedicated every waking hour to perfecting a single craft. But the expert often paid a price for that mastery too — years spent ignoring everything outside of it. The jack, on the other hand, gets to live a little wider.
And maybe that’s the part of the phrase we forget to finish.
A jack of all trades is a master of none… but oftentimes better than a master of one. Because life isn’t always about becoming the best at one thing. Sometimes it’s about being curious enough to try something new, brave enough to be a little bad at it and willing to just… do it all over again.
