Here's your permission to veer off your career plan
There's value in staying open to opportunities, especially in this job market
I like to think of myself as a reformed Type A person. I used to have lists for everything, and I planned our family vacations with military precision. On the plus side, I got shit done. On the down side, I was so busy planning that I never got to actually enjoy anything.
Over the years, I’ve let go of my need to plan and organize many things. I’m heading to Italy in a few weeks for the first time and I don’t even have a packing list! The old me would be horrified. But one place I’ve been reluctant to let go of planning is my career. I mean, you’re supposed to plan your career. Right?
But one place I’ve been reluctant to let go of planning is my career. I mean, you’re supposed to plan your career. Right?
Considering the circuitous route my career has taken, you’d think I’d be less inclined to try to plan it but I think those roadblocks and detours had the opposite impact. I’ve experienced major shifts often enough to know that nothing is certain and I’ve reacted to that by trying to take a very rigid approach to my career going forward.
For example, I went to Meta largely for the opportunity to manage larger teams and grow into an M2. I was promoted to M2 and immediately, as in that same conversation, set my sights on director. I didn’t stop and savor the moment. I didn’t celebrate. I didn’t even take a beat, I simply moved on to the next rung on my planned career ladder. And when it became clear to me that growth opportunities were drying up in my org at Meta (and there were no internal openings that fit the bill), I began to look elsewhere — even though I was really happy at Meta and loved the people I worked with.
I went to Pinterest for the opportunity to grow and scale a content design function and have the scope I’d been missing at Meta. But looking back, there were plenty of signs it wasn’t the right role for me. I’d interviewed for the head of content design role and they offered me a new role they created for me instead. At the time, I was flattered that they liked me enough to create a role for me. I didn’t stop to consider whether that role actually made sense organizationally (it didn’t) or whether there would really be the scope for two senior leaders on one small team (there wasn’t). When layoffs began to hit tech, I knew I’d be impacted if they came to Pinterest. Hell, I would’ve laid myself off.
You’d think that experience would’ve taught me to be less rigid about my expectations for my next role but instead I doubled down: this time, I was going to find that head of content design role. I wanted to work at a small (as in, not FAANG) but well-known company where I could really build and grow the content design discipline. And that was definitely an option. I got plenty of interviews and even some offers for those kinds of roles. But by then the remote market had pretty much dissipated. I could have the job I wanted but not without working in the office and, for me, that meant relocating too.
I’ve written before about the impact return-to-office policies have on disabled people so I won’t belabor that point but relocation presented even more challenges. I have a mortgage with a 2.7% interest rate; I’m pretty sure I’ll be buried in this house. Not to mention, I have kids in high school and middle school who already moved in 2021. An interstate move was not on my agenda.
I have a mortgage with a 2.7% interest rate; I’m pretty sure I’ll be buried in this house.
If the only job options available to me all required relocation, it would’ve been another story. I’ve got to work. But I happened to get a ping from an old Meta coworker about a new role that was fully remote. It certainly wasn’t head of content design; it wasn’t even a manager role! But it was an interesting space at a company with an immature content design discipline I could whip into shape — and it was remote.
I agonized over the decision before I even got the offer. Not because the role didn’t appeal to me — simply because I was concerned that I was taking a step back. I was worried that my career was veering off-track. You know, the track I created for myself out of thin air.
Ultimately, I decided I was being silly. I took stock of my career and thought about what had made me happy and feel fulfilled at work over the last 5 or 6 years. I realized it was the people I worked with, unraveling complex, thorny problems, and the opportunity to grow and scale content design. All of which I could do in an IC capacity, even if that wasn’t what I’d planned.
The job market is tough right now, and I was lucky to have had options. But now more than ever, we need to let go of preconceived ideas about our careers and do what makes sense for us and our families — and what will actually make us happy and fulfilled at work.