This is not new at all and it is not an emerging trend, this has been the normal for quite a few years already. This site had a podcast that had no discussion whatsoever about design, instead it only focused on business and the silicon valley bubble. This site itself came up in a time where it already was normal that people started to call themselves "product designers", even though they still were doing webdesign and nothing else.

Yep, you're right. I've been doing the entrepreneur first, design second thing for a hot minute (3 years). That's my bad for wording issues as I said "I started doing this...".

Literally everyone is doing that. You are setting yourself up for failure if you just do whatever other people are doing. Focus on what you can uniquely bring to the table and sell that. There will always be a need for specialists.

I think its mostly the younger designers still looking for the Smashing Magazine type of articles and the "salaried" designer portfolio. A lot of the experienced designers I know of are transforming their portfolios to be more about personal branding since they might be over working salaried jobs.

Also I agree, there will always be a need for specialists.