My twitter friend Tac Anderson, whom I’ve never met, but soon will once I go to London to visit him, wrote a great post about his change story. As he felt compelled to record a video and share this very personal story, I was compelled to write my thoughts about his post. This video really touched my heart because I have a lot of friends going through a hard time similar to what Tac speaks of. I feel he and I seem to relate a lot on our emphasis on change (sometimes drastic) and what you need to do to re-invent your career.

Some of points I would like to touch on that Tac mentioned:

Sometimes you have to let things break all the way and build something new.
This one really touched me because I’ve been there before. I was in a job (not career) in an industry that I did not really want to pursue. My realization was I had to find a breaking point and completely separate from that industry and move into the User Experience Design industry.

Find that one thing you need to be where you want to be.
Probably the one thing that people forget about most. Tac mentioned that if you had everything you needed to do what you want to do, you would be doing this. So true. I don’t want to take this lightly either, but if you are looking for change, there is something you have to do about that change. The reality is, which is unfortunate, is that a lot of people are in this situation. There are a lot of qualified people trying to find work, and that makes things tough. You need to find something that will separate yourself from everyone. Maybe it’s a skill, or a professional connection, or a mentor.

I can’t stress enough how much getting a mentor can benefit.

The pressure put on men
This. This right here. This isn’t to say things are easier for women or that there is no pressure, but Tac hit it on the spot. This is something not often talked about. I come from a pretty traditional family where it is seen that the man is the provider. There are no pills tougher to swallow than this for men; to not be able to provide and support his family, or himself for that matter. This touches on the first point of somethings you have to meet the breaking point or hit rock bottom. That almost happened to me.

When I was at the job I didn’t see a future in, I quit in the midst of the collapse of the economy in 2008. I had a few months of rent saved up, but time was running out, and my plan was collapsing. I was getting no calls or interviews for design jobs that I was seeking. I was getting to the point that I thought I would have to find a job just to pay the bills, one that might be seen as humbling or (for lack of better words) “embarrassing” considering where I was before.

I knew I had about one month before I ran out of money, so I spent every day (literally) at Zoka coffee and started learning more HTML/CSS, UX Design and whatever I needed to find a job. Six weeks later, I got a job at ExactTarget. Yes, your math is correct. I ran out of money and had to put some charges on my credit card. However, I knew I had to go all the way with it.

Check out Tac’s full article here. Read the full story here. If you want to read my story, it’s here.

P.S. Never leave David + Tac in a room with Excel.