From vocational diploma to program management: in praise of non-linear careers
Vocational diploma. IT technician. Program manager. Entrepreneur.
If you’re looking for a straight line in my resume, you’ll be disappointed. My career looks more like a tree than an arrow.
”So what did you do before?”
That’s the question I get most often in interviews. As if each pivot were a mistake to justify rather than a skill to highlight.
The reality: each step gave me something the next one couldn’t have taught me.
- IT support taught me patience and diagnostics
- Infrastructure management taught me systems thinking
- Teaching taught me how to simplify complexity
- Instructional design taught me how to build learning
- Entrepreneurship taught me execution
The myth of the linear career
We still glorify the “top school, permanent contract, steady climb” trajectory. It’s reassuring for recruiters, but it’s less and less the reality.
The most interesting people I meet — those who innovate, who solve complex problems — rarely have linear careers. They pivoted, experimented, failed, started over.
What a non-linear path brings
Adaptability
When you’ve changed careers 3 times, you’re no longer afraid of the unknown. You know you’ll learn. It’s just a matter of time and method.
Cross-functional vision
I understand developers because I was a technician. I understand instructors because I taught. I understand executives because I started my own company. No degree gives you that cross-functional perspective.
Humility
When you’ve done IT support, you don’t look down on anyone. You know every link in the chain matters.
The advice I’d give
If your career doesn’t fit in the boxes: good. Boxes are made for forms, not for people.
The only question that matters: what did you learn at each step, and how does it serve what you do today?
If you can answer that, your path isn’t atypical. It’s coherent. Just not in the way people expect.