Zig-Zagged Career Paths Tell Your Story

Last week, I attended a great MITX session on Women's Career Decisions in Review. Kiki Mils, the moderator of the session, asked panelists Gail Goodman - CEO, Constant Contact, Diane Hessan - President and CEO, Communispace, Kathleen Kennedy - Chief Strategy Officer, Technology Review, and Nataly Kogan - Senior Program Manager, Microsoft. One question Kiki asked was regarding career paths. Many of the panelists, including Nately Kogan, talked about how their career paths were very unexpected, but that is Ok, as "long as you can tell the story".

Nately talked about her career as a young and successful venture capitalist and previous positions. All speakers had no idea what they wanted to be when they were young, and their message was, it's OK.

In reflecting on the notion of career paths telling a story - that helps give me peace of mind. Starting out with a BA in English and certification in Technical Writer, moving into medical software, dabbling in web projects, and now am pursuing user experience in the process of getting a Human Factors degree. It seems as though user experience is such a hybrid field - no one comes on a clear path, and perhaps that is what makes the field so rich and insightful. When I tell my story - how I got to UX (seems to be a popular interview question) I believe all my paths have the user in mind - whether it is tech writing, web projects, or user experience.