This is not what it’s supposed to feel like — unless you really like the uphill challenge.
Carving out an alt-path you can enjoy is often not easy. It’s not just the fear of what may happen, but the obstacles that pop up along the way. The normal, established paths require you to have degrees in this or that, a bundle of certifications, and a few years to decades of experience to back it up. If you’ve decided to go the alt-path, you may have decided to combine several things all at once, and if you were to pick up every silly little certification along the way you’d not only be broke, but you’d be near the age of needing a nursing home.
Who has time for that?
No one that wants to enjoy life along the way instead of just collecting skills and paying for the slips of paper to prove it. However, you, the trailblazer that you are, can do something those on the traditionally beaten path can’t do:
You can streamline the process.
Most of us grow up with the lie that we can be anything we want to be, if only we put our minds to it. So, we go off to university with stars in our eyes. Let’s say you went to college and got a degree in something you truly love to study, like history, but find out it’s practically useless in the real world. (True story of both my friend Frederick Chu’s and fiancé’s life.) You’re on the other end of the average 5 years it takes to complete a degree, holding a piece of paper in one hand and browsing Craig’s List Classified with the other.
You’re realising the impractical situation you are in now. How are you going to prove that you have 3 – 5 years of experience in management when the only job you could get during university was in the food court? How are you going to fake a computer science degree when you went for history instead?
Penelope Trunk reminds you that you don’t have to wait for someone else to hand you a project; do it yourself. Conceive of an idea yourself. Write a book, a seminar, workshop, class, etc, then hand it out for free. Voilà, instant resume builder. This is experience in more than just what you’re doing, but in design, leadership, and project management. It all goes into your portfolio and on your résumé for that dream career you’ve been wanting.
Padding your résumé is that easy, but getting training and certs are a lot harder, not to mention a wee bit more expensive. Even this, though, is not unattainable if you have the patience, drive, and some strong Google-fu. Seriously, use your favourite search engine and type in “how to get _____ certification”. It’s nearly guaranteed that you’ll find a detailed how-to article from something like Wiki-how and more than a few accredited boards that actually test for the certs themselves. Most of these boards are national so they have connections in every major city, textbooks, more information, and even online courses you can take so you can take the test that gives you the coveted slip of paper saying you’re learned.
There is more to it than that, though.
Networking is just as important as piecing together your quilt of experiences. When you network you not only get to know a range of people, you get your foot in the invisible door to your dream. Tom Morkes is an excellent example of this. As he shared his work, he opened doors that would otherwise be closed to him. He met new people, who in turn helped him learn more about building successful businesses, and in turn helped him build his dream at every turn.
You get something else from creating a social network, though. You craft your résumé one story at a time, which replaces a flimsy piece of paper with a human being that has a history, personality, and context. This is a good thing because resumes are dead. They are being replaced by our social circle, both online and off. Resumes are not important to places like Insanitek, Zappos, and venture capitalists like Union Square who want to know more about the whole person than the outdated piece of paper allows for.
And don’t forget, do the things you love.
While you’re going about collecting pieces to put on your new resume, don’t forget to choose things you love. When you love it, it’s easier. It’s easier to pull through the classes, network, and make a career that you truly love. This is the advantage of taking the alt-path, so go on and forge the life you dream of.
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