Career Paths Don’t Have to be Linear — Introducing ZigZag Paths

I recently started a new job at a venture capital fund. If you had asked me ten years ago — okay let’s be honest, five years ago — I wouldn’t be able to tell you what venture capital meant. I lumped it in the boring, finance category and was certain it was something I would never touch.

Even though I’m now incredibly excited by venture, explaining how I found myself in this role was challenging. The first few times, I gave a half-joking answer about how I just stumbled into it. But as I started to think more about it, I realized I needed to provide a better answer. Not because it’s particularly important for my career, but because I believe it’s important to change the narrative around what career paths look like.

For the past decade, I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I spent a lot of time thinking about careers, specifically when we choose them, how we choose them, and why we choose them.

These questions eventually led me back to my high-school years, which was when I first started seriously thinking about my career path. At the time, I only knew of a few options: doctor, lawyer, scientist. My traditional Asian parents reinforced these were the only viable paths. It took me years to learn there were more careers out there, to understand that it’s actually possible to switch careers after college, to know you can have multiple careers or design your own career, and even longer before I started to figure out the right one for me.

This year, I’m starting an interview series called ZigZag Paths that aims to help high-school students and anyone with open questions learn about new career paths. ZigZag Paths isn’t meant to discourage linear career paths, in fact, I’ve always admired friends who have known exactly what they want to achieve and gone for it full force. The goal of ZigZag Paths is to expand the definition of career success by showcasing more than just one model of a career path and more than just one way to get there.

To begin, I’ll publish interviews featuring a ZigZagger whose made a career transition. I have zero journalism training, but I’ll do my best to ask questions that dig deep not just into the when and the how, but also the why, and provide a candid account of a non-linear career path. Along the way, I’d love to hear your feedback and seek your recommendations for who to interview. Together, I hope we can change the common notion that career paths must be linear and, in turn, encourage pursuit of paths, including ZigZag paths, that are unique to each person.

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Read the first interview featuring Thaniya Keereepart: From Data Engineer to Head of Mobile + Platforms at TED