Your Career Journey Is Not a Straight Line

Welcome to your career exploration journey! It’s common to feel a mix of excitement and uncertainty when thinking about what comes after your degree. A critical first step is understanding that the idea of a linear career path—university, first job, promotion, retirement—is largely a myth for most people today. Instead, career journeys are often non-linear, with multiple jobs, further education, changing fields and unexpected opportunities.

Think of career planning and exploration as a series of small, intentional steps rather than seeking a single “Eureka!” moment. This approach allows you to adapt and pivot as your interests and the job market evolve in order to build a life that feels meaningful to you.

Key Ideas to Embrace:

• Start with “Who are you?”: Before exploring “what’s out there,” you need to understand your own strengths, values, and interests.
• Embrace the Process: Career development is a journey that requires time, patience, and self-compassion.
• Small Steps Forward: Your career will unfold through a series of small, deliberate actions.

By first reflecting on your personal values and what brings you fulfillment, you can begin to explore professions not just as jobs, but as pathways to creating a life that is meaningful and authentically yours. This chapter is designed to help you connect the dots between who you are, the life you want to lead, and the career that will help you build it.

Career Myths vs. Realities

Many of us hold beliefs about careers that can sometimes be misleading, make us feel anxious or unsure or actually hold us back.  These ‘dysfunctional beliefs‘ can make us feel stuck, overwhelmed or limited in our careers and life.

Here are some examples:

What does career exploration look like?

Planning for your career doesn’t start with resumes, interviews, and job markets, but rather a bigger, more important question: What kind of life do you want?

This isn’t just about what you want to do for a living, but how you want to live. Do you envision a life filled with adventure and travel, or one rooted in community and stability? Do you crave continuous intellectual challenges s, or do you seek a career that supports your passions and hobbies outside of work? Your career is not separate from your life; it is the engine that can power the life you want.

Career exploration is a cyclical, iterative process – this means that career exploration isn’t a decision you make once, but is an ongoing process you will revisit and refine repeatedly throughout your life as you gain new experiences and evolve and as a person and as a professional.

Linear vs. Non-Linear Career Paths

As a science student, you might picture your future career as a straight, predictable line.  You go from your degree to a lab or professional school, get promotions, work for 30 years and then retire. This is known as a linear career path.

However, for most science graduates today, the journey is rarely a straight line. Instead, it’s more common to have a non-linear career, a path that includes changing jobs or industries, upskilling, volunteering, taking a break, and unexpected opportunities.  Over the course of your career, that could look like starting out in academic research, then moving to a role in government policy, starting your own company,  applying your scientific skills in fields marketing or data science or choosing something totally different that better aligns with your life stage, values, goals and strengths.

Non-linear career paths are the new norm and a significant advantage. Each unique experience you gain, whether in a different industry or a new role, builds a diverse toolkit of skills. You’ll learn to be more adaptable, a better problem-solver, and see challenges from multiple perspectives—all qualities highly valued in any scientific field.

The most important quality you can cultivate is curiosity about multiple career paths (‘multiple plan As’).

Learn to identify the transferable skills in every job or volunteer position (like communication, project management, and critical thinking), and build a network of contacts in various fields. Think of your career less like a rigid ladder and more like a web you are building; every connection and experience adds strength and creates new opportunities.

Watch: Loosely vs. Tightly Linked Majors & Careers

Let’s explore the relationship between what you’re studying (your specialization/major) and your future career possibilities.

Bonus Video: Sarah Ellis and Helen Tupper: The best career path isn’t always a straight line | TED

Quick Chapter Recap

• Be curious about multiple Plan As—there’s no single “right” path.
• Know yourself first: “Who am I?” comes before “What’s out there?”
• Your degree opens many doors—skills matter more than titles.
• Career paths are rarely linear—small steps and pivots are typical.