Tech Career Pivots
Many Americans are dissatisfied in their current jobs and are searching either for a new role or even a pivot to an entirely new industry. This isn’t exactly new—Americans have always changed jobs or frequently altered career plans after leaving their first jobs out of college.
Currently, more than half of the country’s Millennial and Gen Z employees—the largest component of the tech labor market—will likely search for new employers in 2022.
The evolving attitude towards work, combined with recent trends in the labor market, economy, and culture, has led to a tidal wave of career pivots, including huge swaths of people entering the tech industry for the first time, or workers within the sector leaping from one tech firm to another. Recent layoffs from tech firms have contributed to the wave of tech labor nomadism.
Forbes described a career pivot in a 2016 article as “a purposeful shift in a new, related direction. Pivoting is an intentional, methodical process for nimbly navigating career changes.”
Using the current environment as a template, career pivots tend to happen in three ways:
From Outside to Inside
Big Company to Startup – A big company with a long track record employs a large number of executives, managers, and staff. It has a national headquarters and multiple local, regional, and global offices. Its top and bottom lines and market valuation is measured in billions of dollars. This scale comes at a cost. Workers there must navigate complicated and fraught politics, bureaucracy, power struggles, communication challenges, and a loss of individual purpose relative to the greater good. Startups, in contrast, are perceived as having none of, or at least far fewer, of these problems. The main challenges at startups revolve around adequate capitalization, resource allocation, and proven experience. Example: moving from a big management consulting firm to a startup’s executive leadership team (ELT).
Public to Startup – A public company is exposed to the scrutiny of the world-at-large, can be subject to investor and other lawsuits, and must adhere to SEC regulations. Public companies are led by a Board of Directors. Public companies are listed on public stock exchanges and have greater liquidity than startup stock or stock options. However, public companies typically do not offer the same generous-to-sublime stock packages as startups, which have the advantage of phenomenal growth prospects in net worth, which can increase from mere pennies at inception to millions—or if you are Elon—billions, upon exit. The main driver for this pivot is stock, but it's also freedom from the shackles imposed by large companies. Sometimes, the cultural and professional adaptations needed to successfully pull off this kind of downsizing doesn’t work, hence the expression: “Once a big company guy, always a big company guy.”
From Within the Startup, Seeking Advancement
Chief to Chief. The ELT is often a training ground for those who want the top executive management position, aka CEO. The best examples being when a chief financial officer (CFO), chief operating officer (COO), chief revenue officer (CRO), chief sales officer (CSO), or chief marketing officer (CMO) pivots to the top job of chief executive officer (CEO).
Manager to Executive. The responsibilities of the executive level are often far greater than the senior management and manager levels. The scope and range of responsibilities and duties expands exponentially. This greater responsibility is accompanied by stress from the reality that the CEO shoulders the consequences of success or failure. These stresses are somewhat allayed by greater compensation and fewer (if any) people to whom a CEO must report.
One Line-of-Work to Another. Calling this simply a job change does do this pivot justice. In this case, an individual will change from one department or group to another. This pivot requires the use of different skills, delivering different work product, and using a different point of view and parlance. Examples: pivoting from engineer to data scientist; engineering to product management; sales to marketing; marketing to sales.
US to International or Vice Versa. Living and working abroad develops soft and hard skills useful in any business pursuit in the tech industry. International experience also grows important skills such as problem-solving, leadership, adaptability, teamwork, and managerial communications. These can be utilized in leadership positions in US companies with stateside and international positions.
Low Performance Organizations (LPOs) to High (HPOs). This pivot involves moving from a “dog” (another name for an LPO) to a “rocketship” (aka the HPO).
HPOs quickly and efficiently change their operating practices and structure when necessary to meet competition, market demands or customer requirements. They focus on the long-term, are customer-centric, flexible, value diversity, adaptability and effective teamwork. Compared to other businesses, HPOs spend more time on improving their core capabilities and processes, and invest in their workforce. These practices lead to increased growth and performance and, ultimately, scale.
From Stressful to Less-Stressful Job. It is difficult for some people to find a job that is meaningful, enjoyable and less stressful. Busy at work is one thing, but under constant stress is another. At some points in their career—especially one pursued in startups—some people seek a less-stressful job. Examples: moving from sales to customer service, or pivoting from consulting services to operations or IT. Clearly, another career pivot is stepping down as CEO maintaining a seat as Director on the company’s board.
In-to-Out but Still Connected
Operator to Director, Consultant or Investor. This category involves changing from operator—usually as CEO or a member of the ELT—to another role, such as director, consultant, advisor or investor. These roles enable the pivot-er to provide strategic or operationally pragmatic advice without having the stress of day-to-day operations. Former CEOs and executives seek out these roles after years serving in tactical and operationally intensive roles. Often there is the chance to combine many different roles to form a fabric of engagements by theme and/or type and level of involvement. From personal experience, I can attest that this approach is both intellectually stimulating and rewarding on an interpersonal level.
There are a number of career pivots which don’t easily fall into this taxonomy, including:
Multi-step career pivots that may include enhanced education, one or more lateral moves, or bridge positions. Multi-step career pivots potentially involve landing in positions with compensation that is at the same level or even a pay cut, or “step back,” before the there’s a payoff.
Women re-entering the workforce after having and/or raising children. Fortunately, companies are more receptive to these workers today partially because of changing views of the workplace, but also a realization that these workers have experience and capabilities that are in high-demand in this tight job market.
Those in the final phase of a career: According to Gallup, the average retirement age in the US is 62. Increased life expectancy means many people start new careers later in the life. (This insight came from the movie The Intern, where Robert De Niro becomes a senior intern at an online fashion website after trying retirement for a couple of years). In addition to a desire to remain engaged and productive, this pivot occurs sometimes as a result of economic necessity.
Career pivots are part of almost everyone’s career path. Individuals who want to make a career change and think the technology industry is the right place for them can find new challenges there, undoubtedly. It’s always helpful to have education, coaching and other support before you make that pivot, but if you’re energized, ambitious, and entrepreneurial, a career pivot to tech could open “the golden doors.”