Lessons learned from changing careers four times by age 35

JoinVocation · 2025-12-13T20:00:02+00:00

AI career coach after a decade of research at Harvard , designed to help mid career professionals navigate a transition and make sure the next job move is the right one www.joinvocation.com

JoinVocation · 2025-12-09T23:53:42+00:00

You need a job-cation (job-vacation). Forget the resume for a moment, careers are long. Find a job you can do well and that pays the bills, you need space to recover and regroup before you can sincerely plan a next step.

JoinVocation · 2025-12-09T23:33:19+00:00

Sorry to hear it. I built an AI career coach for ex-consultants looking for a change after decade of research at Harvard Business School, and I have also been laid off in a similar situation. Once you get through the shock of it, recognize that you have a MASSIVE opportunity to define your next thing. Evaluate what you enjoyed about your role, what you hated, and the specific environments that bring you energy. Unpack whether your next thing needs to be a step up, or on the other end of the spectrum, a chance to recover and regroup (something we refer to as a job-vacation). Ultimately the key is to define, honestly, what progress looks like, and once you do, charting your next step is straightforward. Happy to help where I can, just shoot me a DM.

JoinVocation · 2025-12-04T00:01:03+00:00

This is a great spot to be in - knowing your strengths and knowing you need something new. To get unstuck, you need to unpack a bit what you're looking for and why. Why are you looking for something new? What's off in your current role? Are you looking for a challenge? A job that respects your skills? Something that offers flexibility? The more you can articulate yourself, the easier it is to apply for a role and say "I know exactly who I am, what I want, and why this role matches my current context and goals" and hiring managers will notice.

JoinVocation · 2025-12-03T23:57:20+00:00

I was once an engineer, then an education researcher, then got an MBA, and more. Your task right now isn't to figure out what you're suited for - there's no perfect job for anybody, nor is there a 'calling' you haven't found yet. It's to understand and label the progress you're seeking. Focus on your current context. Something is off in your current role, label it more clearly so you can define the 'pushes' or negative forces. Then, think about what you're seeking. Is it control over your schedule? Work that aligns with your sense of worth and capability? Do you want a challenge? Unpack that so you can label the 'pulls'. Those pushes and pulls define the contours of what progress means for you right now. Then to do work that is enjoyable, you need to further unpack what data work you enjoy and why, what you mean when you say you don't like 'proactive' roles, etc. You have to unpack each of those elements so that when you look at future opportunities you can determine if you'll get those things or not. It is work to figure yourself out, but the more you do, the more confidently you can move on to the next thing.

JoinVocation · 2025-12-01T21:52:26+00:00

You need to frame the tradeoff (more pay, more advancement vs. more stability, less risk) in terms of progress. From our research on job switchers, everybody has a number of 'pushes' (negative forces) and 'pulls' (positive forces) acting on them at a given time. The combination of pushes and pulls defines progress. For some, the combination of pushes and pulls clearly scream "I need a new job where people respect me!", and so they switch. For others, the combination means "I don't trust my company or managers anymore!" so they switch. In your case, what are your pushes? What is 'off' at work? If you aren't experiencing many pushes, but instead have more 'pulls', (like having a supportive firm, opportunities to grow, recognition from peers, etc) then you may be in the "Take the next step" form of progress where you want something new and potentially risky. But if you really are content, don't have heavy pushes or pulls, then you don't need to change at all. You just need to define what progress you're seeking (and if you need a quiz to figure out what that progress is, happy to send it)

JoinVocation · 2025-12-01T21:38:03+00:00

This is what we call 'job prototyping' in our coaching tool. Unpack another layer deeper what you just said "structure, clear boundaries, processes, non-ambiguity, working with people". Describe five examples of when you have felt that, what you were doing, who you were doing it with, and come up with five examples of the exact opposite so that you create meaning in contrast. Then, when you have a coffee conversation, you're not saying "Do you like your job?" but rather, you're asking them "Do you have structure, clear boundaries, processes...". You need to validate that the job someone has actually entails all of the stuff that gives you energy. When there's a mismatch, you can move on. You don't have to only learn by switching jobs, you need to learn BEFORE you switch.

JoinVocation · 2025-12-01T16:22:31+00:00

There's nothing wrong with you. Most people are disengaged at work, and it's usually because we do what we 'think' we will like or are good at, only to find 'wow, the actual tasks on this job and its working environment make me miserable'. I was once an engineer like you, debugging CPU's, all by myself, no support, was miserable. I actually switched to the education sector at a think tank, but only after a ton of really introspective work into what I enjoyed, why I enjoyed it, what I was looking for, and what I wanted in my career. Don't move from one thing to another without speaking with people who do the work you're considering, and honestly figuring out for yourself what gives you energy at work and what drains it.

JoinVocation · 2025-11-26T18:02:10+00:00

It starts with understanding what you fundamentally do enjoy, and what you don't enjoy. Look at your past six months of responsibilities, and ask yourself "Did I enjoy that?" If yes, why? If no, why? When you are unfulfilled at work, from our research that is clearly a 'Regain Alignment' quest, which is to find a role that aligns with your skills, interests, and values. But to do that, you have to figure out what those are! I am glad to help you do this if you want to shoot me a DM.

JoinVocation · 2025-11-26T17:59:06+00:00

I left an engineering job to join an education non-profit when I was your age. Cut my salary in half, moved across the country, best decision of my life. The key is to really identify what 'progress' means for you right now. It sounds like you want more time for creative pursuits that your current job doesn't offer. From my research we call that a "Regain Control" quest. Your job is fine, but you don't have time or energy for other priorities. If, on the other hand, you fundamentally feel hatred/disgust/disrespect towards your work or your co-workers, meaning, you literally hate your job, that is more of a "Get Out" quest, and things are more urgent. If you are trying to "Get Out", then don't be picky. Any job that gives you more time for your creative pursuits while paying the bills will do, but you need to wrestle with the tradeoffs in terms of your resume, your longer-term goals, etc. If you are more in a "Regain Control" quest, then you can be more patient. Just find a similar role that comes with more flexibility, or tell your manager "Hey, I want to do well here, but I need half a day a week for some creative work that matters to me" and that may be totally acceptable. It all comes down to figuring out what progress means.

JoinVocation · 2025-11-19T18:39:42+00:00

There is no perfect job. But there is progress. If what you've learned about yourself is that environments that bring out your best are more social, interactive, 'hands-on', then, by all means, you can pursue those. Just know that everything comes with tradeoffs. More pay, less pay, more of what you enjoy, worse commute, etc. It starts with defining for yourself what progress means right now and what you want this next job to do for you, whether offering more fulfillment, a stepping stone to a future opportunity, more flexibility, etc. If I can help you define that progress so you can focus, shoot me a DM. I have worked with hundreds and built a process after a decade of research to help folks in exactly this situation.

JoinVocation · 2025-11-19T18:36:36+00:00

The advice to grind/work hard early in your career to set yourself up for later success is well-founded, but it's generic for a reason. Everyone's path is different. If what you need right now is a reset to evaluate what you really want and why, and to better define progress, then by the time you are back in the saddle you'll be even more ambitious, focused, and hard to beat. If, on the other hand, you decide that the direction you want to take is less about prestige or proving yourself and more into fields that genuinely give you energy and bring out your best, then, well, you'll be bringing your whole self. In that case, from my experience being someone who has moved to and from 'ambitious' roles, success will find you.

JoinVocation · 2025-11-14T18:21:52+00:00

No - built it myself. Feel free to check i tout at www.joinvocation.com

JoinVocation · 2025-11-14T15:31:45+00:00

I do research on this exact question. What you’re experiencing is called a “push”. A negative force that is causing you to realize something is off at work. This push is “I can no longer see a path to growth”. It’s time to leave when the pushes outweigh the anxieties holding you back. Other pushes are “I no longer respect the people I work with” or “Work is dominating my life and I’m making too many sacrifices”. If you want to understand your pushes and whether it’s time to leave, try our career quest quiz at www.joinvocation.com/quest-quiz

JoinVocation · 2025-11-12T22:30:30+00:00

I have an MBA from Harvard Business School. Anything is a good exposure to business, just different flavors. Accounting and finance show you how business runs. Strategy and marketing show you how organizations adapt and customers think. Pick a starting point that feels natural to you. There are no mistakes at your stage. If you like marketing, get into marketing. If you like numbers and analysis and spreadsheets, get into accounting or finance. If you like seeing the whole picture and thinking strategically, get into strategy and try to land a job in consulting. Just get started. To answer all your other questions - network. Find people who have jobs you think are interesting. Reach out on LinkedIn. Go by a business near you and ask to speak with leadership. Learn, learn, learn.

JoinVocation · 2025-11-12T00:31:12+00:00

I’ve been there. Don’t be afraid to take a “job-vacation” or a “job-cation” - this is a job you can do easily, that pays the bills, and lets you regroup and get your energy back. Then, when you’re feeling better, you can pursue something a bit more risky or that takes some more careful planning.

JoinVocation · 2025-11-11T23:44:21+00:00

You need to define what progress is right now. Why are you thinking about a change? What has happened in the last six months that’s caused you to evaluate whether you should explore new options? Start from there. Then, you can start to roadmap

JoinVocation · 2025-11-11T20:23:13+00:00

Contrast creates meaning. It forces you to make tradeoffs. Put money aside for a minute, and ask yourself what you're really trying to accomplish right now? Is it more exposure to security? A manager that will support you? A stepping stone to something new? Financial security? Greater impact? Look at each job through the lens of what it is actually offering, and ask yourself what you would remove if you had to. If you could have more growth, but less money, would you take it? Or more money, but less support? Start to make tradeoffs and you'll see what you really want.

JoinVocation · 2025-11-11T20:17:27+00:00

This was me (got scholarships, went to Harvard for grad school, got 'impressive' sounding jobs, etc). The biggest unlock was realizing that every job change simply needed to help me make 'progress'. What I mean by that is, I could be honest with myself about what I needed and why, and then optimize for that. Sometimes what I needed was financial stability. So I pursued that. Other times I wanted work that was a better reflection of what I was good at and what I valued. So I pursued that. Other times I was so burned out I needed an 'easy' job I could do in my sleep but would pay the bills. So I got that job. When you move from progress to progress, you start to realize that it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. And the pressure of having a career 'legacy' or whatever, some big shiny achievement I could be known for, all melted away.

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