Ready for Your Next Career Shift?

Anyone who has been employed for a while has probably had a career shift. Chances are pretty good that what you're working on today is vastly different than what you were doing a decade ago. Your career shifted over time, and you may not have even realized it. Learning how to recognize, take control, and navigate these inevitable shifts can be as much of a career skill as your core talents. Personally, I'm undergoing a shift within my job at LinkedIn Learning, and I thought it would be a good time to share some of the things I've learned over the years.

For the past few decades, I’ve been known as an animation guy.  I started my animation career in the early 90’s and, since then, I’ve worked on some fun TV shows, owned a studio for a while, wrote some books, and taught at some great schools.  In the past few years, however, I’ve started teaching more and more architecture-related courses. For the next year, it looks like almost all of my future courses will be in architecture. 

I guess that means that, like many, my career is shifting. I’ve had many career shifts in my life, and this particular one is actually welcome. I'm an architecture geek from way back, and even did pre-architecture work when I was in college (before animation got a hold of me). It is a topic I've actively pursued.

In some ways, however, my shift mirrors that of many other people's careers. When change starts to happen, you can try to get ahead of it and direct it... or just let it happen to you. I vote for the former. The first step is recognizing that change is coming. Typically, there’s some sort of signal that alerts you beforehand. You could start seeing glimpses of a new technology, or maybe rapid growth in a related field, or maybe your clients are calling less frequently. Whatever the signals, be alert to them.

For me, that signal was our growing commitment to CAD. When I started at Lynda.com (now LinkedIn Learning), I was the guy who handled 3D and animation tools.  Shortly after that, we created a CAD segment and demand for that content started to rise. I saw that signal as an opportunity to learn more about a new field. Pretty soon, I was teaching SketchUp, which I really enjoyed. And, as I've gained knowledge, I've gradually taught more and more courses in this area.

So, when you recognize that the signal lights are changing, how do you manage to make the shift? Every situation is different, but here’s a few little tips I've learned to help manage it:

Learn Incrementally – I work for a learning company, so I may be a little biased, but staying on top of things as they develop is much easier than trying to learn a bunch of new stuff in one big push. Put aside a little bit of time each week or month to learn something new. If you come across a promising new technology, take a bit of time to play with it and maybe even incorporate it into a project. If the technology takes off, then you’re at least a step or two ahead on the learning curve.

Use Passion as a Motivator – It always helps if there is a bit of passion in the mix. You could certainly pick the hottest technology to learn, but if your heart is not really into it, then you might not really learn it. But, if you’re genuinely interested in a topic, you’ll naturally spend more time with it, learn more, and be enthusiastic when talking to others about it. That passion goes a long way in business, and it also keeps you personally engaged.

You May Have to Be Strategic– Passion is all fine and dandy, but there may be industry trends that are too powerful to ignore. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow and learn the hot new thing, regardless of how you feel about it. In those cases, you need to be strategic and look at the bigger picture. This one new skill adds to an overall collection of skills you have developed. They add up to something much bigger.

Stay in Touch – If you’ve been in an industry for a while, you’ve probably made a few friends and acquaintances along the way.  These people are often a good resource as to where things are headed. Stay in touch with them, not because they’re sources of industry gossip, but because you genuinely like hanging out with them anyways.

Change is Seldom Comfortable – We all get in our comfort zones at work, but it's best not to be too comfy. I witnessed the rise of CG in animation during the 90’s, and there were a lot of people who held on to their pencils with clenched fists, refusing to embrace CG. In many ways, they had a point -- pencils are awesome. But the business reality was that computers made more sense from a production standpoint. Adding CG skills to their repertoire was uncomfortable for many classically trained artists, but those who did learn tend to still be working today.

So keep those in mind as you navigate your career. Personally, I’m right there with you. My role at LinkedIn Learning requires that I constantly stay ahead of the technology curve so I can teach the new stuff to others. In some ways, it is challenging, but also can be quite fun, and hopefully, I can help guide others to new ways of working.

...and here’s my latest course, about using the game tools in Unity for architectural applications.