From an early age we are taught to develop skills that we are interested in - things that keep us moving forward, keep us challenged, keep us sharp. As we grow, the education system teaches us to navigate our way through courses to find our “passion”, coaching us to develop that passion into a career. Post-graduation we are faced with the daunting reality of work. If at that time we have not found that specific area of passion that drives us, we are conditioned to go back to school in an attempt to re-kindle a fire in another area of interest — all in hopes of finding our destined “path”.

Many times we spend years in the education system, trying to find areas of interest where both our passion and the promise of a competitive salary converge. Even more often, once we graduate, we find ourselves in jobs that are less than ideal — oftentimes in industries unrelated to our original educational studies, simply to earn a paycheck. With the factors of the present economy, we find ourselves fearful of change, remaining just comfortable enough to stay at our jobs, knowing that the experience and perseverance in our current position will look favorable to future employers.

Most often, the path to your career is not linear — it’s a series of unrelated checkpoints that evolve over time to shape the work that’s both rewarding and that you are great at. Too often we take a waterfall approach to building our career path, instead we should apply the agile principles of software development to our careers, uncovering an iterative approach to discovering career-market fit. Instead of taking that comfortable job right out of college, take a risk and do something that forces you to learn something new, even if it’s temporary. Instead of taking that comfy job and grinding it out for half of a decade, try taking five jobs at five different companies in your first five years post-college. Remember, just like the creative process, the path to our career is an adaptive path.