A word of advice right off the bat: if someone out there is telling you that there is only one way or one path for your career (and life)… Run away from that person. Fast.
They are bullshitting. They are straight-up lying.
They might not know it or see it that way… it might not be intentional. They could actually be a good person, an angel sent from heaven.
However, it’s still someone taking their story, their decisions, their timing, their strengths and weaknesses — and wrapping it up as a universal truth. It isn’t. It can’t be. Because we’re not the same person. We don’t work at the same company (or on the same continent, in fact). We don’t have the same motivations, the same fears, the same energy at 9 AM on a Tuesday. It sounds like guidance, but it’s a projection.
It’s someone describing their path and trying to put you on it.
It’s like someone giving you advice without hearing you out. It’s like someone talking about themselves for 15 minutes after you’ve just said your name. Oh… and they did NOT hear your name. They don’t care about who you are.
Rant almost done, one more thing I need to get off my chest:
Nobody knows the future, especially now, with the speed of AI developments and how they’re changing the design profession and more broadly — tech. AI might change everything for the better or for the worse. It might change our tools or upgrade them. We might code or vibe-code or telekinetic-code or openclaw-code in the (near) future. We might get hit with an AI asteroid and go extinct like the dinousaurs. We don’t know yet. Everybody is figuring it out. Everybody is throwing shit up the wall and seeing what sticks.
So when someone says “you need to do this” or “this is the way”, the least you can do is to be careful.
There are many paths forward. Many possible futures. This article is about that.
My path(ways)
Many of us don’t realise, but life goes something like this:
This picture has a permanent place in my mind. I come back to it from time to time, when reflecting backwards or when I’m at a crossroads for going forward. Thank you, Tim Urban. I’m eternally grateful.
I will show you a practical example of the above (my path), but I’ll show it to you only as an illustration of the concept that there are many paths. You will see it all: the crossroads, the messy stuff, the personal stuff. Because that’s part of the journey as well.
Following is my ̶C̶V̶ path.
What’s the point of this?
Am I sending you the above as a CV and expecting you to hire me? No.
I am also not sending you this so you can copy it — but so you can see that pathS exist. Plural. That movement is non-linear. That multiple realities can exist and even co-exist. That getting lost happens quite often. That there are dangers and failures along the way, and that that’s normal.
As seen in the example, the context of the work can make a big difference and create distinct paths as well. Different types and sizes of companies, industry, country, your seniority, etc… all provide different paths to fulfillment (and income).
Nobody can tell you what’s best for you.
Ultimately, you don’t follow anybody — you follow yourself. Your inclinations. Your energy. Your sense of purpose (yes, purpose matters more than we like to admit, especially when you are at a crossroads). Figure out who you are, what drives and pulls you, what are your gifts/strengths, and what are your weaknesses (opportunities are another chapter, more on that later). All of that can point you in the right direction. I wrote more on the topic of purpose here in case you’re interested to dive deeper.
Even within one company, there are multiple paths
If you zoom in, even inside a single company, there isn’t just one track. There are doors. Some are open. Some are closed. Some you walk through halfway and step back out.
At one point, I explored being a PM. The environment allowed it — even asked for it. I stepped into that space, learned from it, but decided not to go that route. Not because it was wrong, but because something else pulled harder. I learned from that experience and brought it back to my main quest.
Even now, at Booking.com, there are many paths to venture. Every Lead Designer works in a different context, with different skills required. Perhaps I can shift context in the future? Or I can pursue a management path? I tried that while covering for a colleague and found it very fulfilling (but perhaps not something for this immediate moment). Or I can go back to being a Senior Individual Contributor with more hands-on responsibilities. These are all different examples, some more or less open to me.
My point is that multiple possibilities/paths exist, some within your current company, in addition to the ones outside of it.
Life events pave a new path
Circa 2021, I was fully immersed in design and working like a possessed madman. I had the time and energy and managed to balance: 4 days of full-time work, building a personal product, and 2 freelance projects. Oh, and a design podcast in my “free time”. But soon after the fun came the overwhelm. My son saved me and showed me a new way forward. I decided to put a stop to everything, except my full-time role. It was done by necessity — the time and care I needed to provide to my son + start taking better care of myself. That’s why you see a stop of my side projects and freelance work. Only since last year (after a 3-year pause) I’ve been able to continue with my personal projects (including writing). Only now, I have extra time and energy that can be used to open up new paths.
This was only one life event example, without mentioning how dealing with loss, job insecurity, and having a second child influenced me on my path(s).
We all go through life taking things for granted and thinking they will always be here and remain the same, but that’s rarely so. Life sometimes has other plans.
The elephant in the room — the job market.
It’s messed up. I know. I might hit a nerve by saying that there are options when there aren’t any. You might’ve sent 100+ applications just like I did when I was stuck in my career. That was a long time ago, but it’s still fresh in my mind. I fully empathize.
Besides a lack of opportunities, you are probably dealing with an abundance of algorithms. If you worked at FinTech like me for the past ~decade, HR AI software might filter you out for any other position in any other industry, no matter how good you are. Connect with people as much as you can; that might be your best shot against being ruthlessly filtered out by machines.
The only other remedy / hope I can provide: keep on designing, keep on loving design, keep on exploring, keep on believing in yourself, keep on working on becoming better. Hard work will pay off.
A path will open up.
The robot in the room-AI.
I hinted at this in my rant at the opening. There is a new p̶e̶r̶s̶o̶n̶̶ thing entering our chat. In my illustrated paths example, AI is nowhere to be seen. But it is part of my day-to-day, both in terms of usage and anxiety. There is no AI asteroid yet, but it’s altering some of our paths. Closing some, opening new ones.
I consider myself an optimist, and I believe that designers are adaptable and irreplaceable. There is not a single thing that can save us, but many. I wrote about that in my piece on Taste vs. Empathy.
Perhaps AI will push us out to a different career entirely. A lot of us dream of becoming baristas and chefs, so it might not be that bad if that happens. Sorry for the joke; it might not be appropriate considering your struggles.
To end on a positive note
Be careful in picking and choosing your influencers. They might come with a dose of anxiety and might deliver a sales pitch instead of guidance. Keep calm and carry on, doing the good, hard work — both in design and in reflection.
There is a place (and need) in this world for more than one type of designer. Where you fit is for you to figure out, not for anyone else.
May you find your way, and may it be a good one.
✌️
This article was originally published on Medium. You can find the original post here.