Dave's Career Change Story

Dave joined the Career Change Accelerator with a successful career behind him, and a growing sense that the way he was working no longer fit. Not because he was stuck or failing, but because he’d reached the limits of existing career structures and trajectories.

In this piece, Dave reflects on the moment his thinking shifted - from waiting for clarity or permission, to realising that meaningful work often has to be created, not found. His story is a reminder that career change doesn’t have to mean starting again, and that momentum often comes from changing how you approach work, not blowing everything up.

“Nobody is out there looking to unearth or leverage my potential.”

Before you made your career change, what was going on for you?

I’m a ‘creative’ (writer and strategist), with a background in advertising, publishing and technology. I had known for years that what I was doing, or at least the way I was doing it, wasn’t right - specifically trying to find satisfaction within existing career structures and trajectories. I felt stuck, and a little anxious that my window for change had passed.

What was the moment you realised something needed to shift?

It was the second session of the Career Change Accelerator when the penny dropped. Deepak, the founder of Oddbox, was a guest. Here was someone who had made the switch from finance to establishing an amazing business, but was in the middle of another career leap. It made me understand that constant change is okay.

To hear that from someone who would be deemed successful by any measure, and yet was still searching, made quite an impact.

Later in the same session, we analysed the things that made us feel most alive. Looking at my list, I realised that if I was going to do work that felt meaningful to me, I was going to have to create it myself. Nobody is out there looking to unearth or leverage my potential.

What felt hardest or scariest about taking steps towards change?

Not realising that I could do it myself, and thinking I needed acceptance or permission, was the source of most of my fear. I felt blocked and couldn’t imagine breaking out of the situation I was in.

But making a career change also means changing the way you think about work and the nature of careers generally. When I finally accepted that established pathways and ways of working are redundant and rapidly crumbling, I lost my fear and got quite bullish.

What role did community play in building momentum?

Knowing that I wasn’t the only one who felt lost or stuck was massively comforting. Learning that everyone on the course had huge amounts of experience and highly enviable CVs convinced me that the situation I was in was just another chapter, not a dead end.

The discussions and support we shared created real momentum. You can’t do it alone, and you don’t have to.

What’s different in your life or work now?

I haven’t chucked in my day job. In fact, I accepted a job offer in the second last week of the Accelerator. I’m not sure I would have gone for this kind of opportunity if it hadn’t been for the course and the way it changed how I viewed work and careers.

I rejected a more lucrative contract with endless churn and organisational BS for a smaller, leaner, more collaborative and productive outfit. It’s also freed up my frustrated creative side to focus on projects I couldn’t have attempted before. I was far too busy working as if my life and happiness depended on it.

If someone reading this feels how you once felt, what would you want them to know?

You’re not starting again, you’re simply adding to your experience. It’s neither too soon nor too late to give it a go, and there’s never a perfect time.

You just have to get cracking.

Stories like Dave’s are exactly why we run the Career Change Accelerator. It’s an 8-week, part-time programme for people who don’t want to burn everything down, but do want to change how they think about work, test new directions, and build real momentum alongside others who get it.

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