Personal experience is an invaluable asset as a writer; it is an irreplaceable element for the song writer, the novelist, the opinions writer, even the news journalist. If you ever tried to write a love song as a child, inexperienced in the woes of adult relations, you know exactly how unattainable that essential level of relatablitity can be. As an aspiring writer I found this to be so off putting that I thought I could never make a career of my skill without first attaining some specialty knowledge.
As I started to write in my early twenties at what I would deem a semi-professional level - writing for a student start up, writing for my university newspaper, and progressing to an editorial role in both domains - I started to take a completely different approach. When we struggled to get contributors for the News section of the newspaper I started to tell people that it's totally okay to not know the subject matter. Having a certain level of comprehension, which would allow you to understand a topic after research and interviews is essential. However, it's also not a bad thing to start an interview with: "So I have to admit, after my research I am struggling to understand the topic at large. Would you mind beginning with a basic breakdown of the subject at hand?"
Obviously at my level I am not an authority on the subject of writing or journalism, nor do I think I will be. It is such a variable field that I think this would be difficult to achieve even with abundant experience. I do, however, have a good enough read of people to know what works and what doesn't after a (continuing) period of trial and error. I know that people get annoyed if you have to reinterview them because somebody screwed up, I know that people can tell when you're coming into an interview blind, and I can tell that experts are willing to explain extensively to the engaged and interested.
One of the biggest moments of change in my opinion on this topic, though, was when I wrote my first research based article. The piece was about an ocean cleanup technology and whether it was a feasible solution to our oceanic trash problems. As I sat there reading article after article researching the technology, the people involved, the criticism, and the problem at hand, I thought about how I would feel as a reader. As a new writer it was exciting to build an article, but in reality I don't really like research for the sake of research. I realised the importance of being the person willing to accumulate the information and put it in a, hopefully, engaging and informative piece for the average reader.
Through my experiences, I realized that my role as a writer was not to have all the answers or all the questions raised in my stories. My job is to find those answers and those stories, and make them enjoyable pieces that somebody like myself could easily use to inform their knowledge on topics they don't want to do thesis level research for. With time experience will happen and open other doors, but for the moment it's okay to be a beginner and not know every topic inside out. If I'd known that earlier, I probably would have pursued a career in writing earlier and more fervently.