5 Career Misconceptions Holding You Back

The other day, I met a young woman and we started talking about career paths. She told me she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do – she dropped out of high school and several colleges (1), and now she felt this pressure to pick something, which isn’t easy when you’re 23 and you feel like you need to pick something you’ll love in 10 years while you don’t even know what you’re going to be like in 10 weeks.

As she told me about her fears and background, I realized so much of it was rooted in beliefs instilled in us by a system that doesn’t work for everyone – and often doesn’t work for neurodivergent folks. Luckily, if the system doesn’t work for you, that doesn’t mean you can’t be happy and successful. But in order to get there, you first need to let go of 5 career misconceptions you were likely raised with.

Career Misconception 1: You Need Formal Education

The common, accepted path to career success is: finish high school with good grades, get into a good college and graduate (preferably top of your class; yes, it’s impossible for EVERYONE to graduate top of their class, you’re expected to do it anyway), get an entry level job in your field of study, then work your way up, ideally to a leadership position.

The truth is that this system works well for some, but not for others. This career misconception may be especially harmful if you’re neurodivergent (gifted, ADHD, autism, dyslectic, etc). School may not be all that for you, and guess what? In this day and age, that’s perfectly fine!

No, let me put a disclaimer here: if you want to be a brain surgeon (or any kind of surgeon, really), or a pilot, or a bunch of other protected professions that are high-risk – yeah, you’ll probably need that formal education.

Everyone else? Not so much!

This career misconception stems from a time where it was way more difficult to educate yourself. These days, we have unprecedented access to information – to research, to experts, to tutorials.

We’re often trying to get a degree not because we believe a program offers us a way to master the exact skills and knowledge we’re looking for but because we think we have to.

For many fields, we don’t.

If you’re a drop-out, that does not mean you’ve failed. It usually means the system has failed you.

They never got the degree for their jobs

My partner finished high school but dropped out of college twice and became a driving instructor. Today, he’s a senior software developer.

A former colleague also became a self-taught software developer after working in construction for years.

A friend runs multiple successful online businesses with only a high school degree.

Another friend never finished her education and is now working in marketing.

One became a self-taught designer.

Yet another one is a massage therapist.

The list goes on and on. Takeaway? If what you want to do doesn’t require a degree, consider compiling your own curriculum and work on the specific skills you need – formal education is overrated!

Career Misconception 2: Once You Pick, It Has to Stick

This career misconception is also based on the old days where you had to go to school to learn something. After years of formal education, naturally you’d want to just keep doing whatever you were doing so you didn’t have to go back to school. And IF you were going back to school, you’d maybe do it once. Definitely not every few years.

If you like what you picked and you want to do it for the rest of your life – more power to you. But if you’re like me and your interests change every few years (fellow neurodivergents, looking at you!) – that’s perfectly fine, too! After a brief flirt with social work, I majored in Cultural Anthropology and in Information Science. I’ve worked in IT for 6 years, switched to marketing, ended up in education with some translation gigs on the side. Now, I run my own business!

Jenny, who illustrated two of our card decks, used to be a hair dresser and is now a secondary school science teacher.

One of my best friends majored in social work and is now a team lead in content management at a large financial institution.

It might feel like starting over, but it never really is. You take all of the experiences from your previous fields and you bring them to your new passion. And your specific background actually makes you unique!

Takeaway: You don’t need to pick something you’ll love in 20 years (you can never know anyway), just pick something you’ll enjoy doing for now.

Need help discovering what you’d love?

That’s exactly what our cards are for. Our Vision Cards for your Career will help you get clear on things like your favorite tasks, environment, and even work-life balance.

Career Misconception 3: You Need to Specialize

As with the first two career misconceptions we’ve discussed, this is one neurodivergent folks run into a lot – the need to specialize. To only do 1 thing.

8 years ago, back when I was working for Deloitte, at the end-of-year reviews my mentor told me two things: 1. I’d be getting a bonus for my involvement in all of the side-projects. 2. I also wouldn’t get the promotion I hoped for because I was involved in too many things and didn’t specialize enough.

Don’t believe anyone who tells you that you have to focus on doing one thing. There’s an enormous value in doing multiple things. As Emilie Wapnick puts in her amazing TED-talk about multipotentialites (an absolute must-see if you haven’t yet): “Idea synthesis, rapid learning and adaptability: three skills that multipotentialites are very adept at, and three skills that they might lose if pressured to narrow their focus.”

A good friend of mine is an illustrator as well as a sports instructor.

My guitar teacher also offers sound therapy.

Personally, I apply my passion for asking the right questions not only in the products I create for Odder Being, but also helping a Dutch college develop their marketing programs.

Takeaway: You can do however many things you want, as long as you have the resources to do them. Your unique combination of skills and experience is your super power.

Career Misconception 4: You Need to Be an Expert

This is probably the biggest career misconception that prevents many of us from trying the things we’d *really* like to be doing: self-awareness. We know we haven’t mastered a skill 100%. We know there is so much we don’t know yet, so much we can’t do yet. So we stay in this never-ending loop of trying to improve ourselves.

The best resource I’ve found on this topic is Brene Brown’s book Dare to Lead. Brene states that we often make ourselves smaller because we know we’re not experts. Here are her thoughts on this subject:

“Perfectionism is a defensive move. It’s the belief that if we do things perfectly (…) we can minimize or avoid the pain of blame, judgement, and shame.”

To sum it up: our fear of not being an expert is essentially a fear of being judged.

The truth is you don’t need to know everything. You only need to know enough to be able to help the person or business you’re helping. If you’ve only taken 3 steps on a certain path, you may not be able to help those who are 4 steps ahead of you, but you’re probably a better fit to help the ones who are just starting out.

Takeaway: You don’t need to be an expert to have a successful career. You just need to be brave, and be willing to grow and learn.

Career Misconception 5: You Need Years of Experience Before Starting Your Own Business

There’s good and bad sides to being your own boss. On one hand, you have tons of freedom. On the other, there may be less financial security (depending on your field and where you’re based). So no, starting your own business is not for everyone. But what you don’t need to start your own business is years of experience working for someone else.

Are you able to create or offer someone something they’re willing to pay for?

You’re good to go!

When I just launched my business, I did have years of experience… but in a very different field from the one I was working in. What I did have is an analytical mind – I talked to people who had problems and I had ideas for how to solve them.

Maybe being analytical is not your jam. But maybe you’re good at making things. You’re great at making people feel heard. You have a knack for making them laugh. Or you’re great at DYI projects or some special interest you’ve specialized in.

All of the above can be a business.

Here’s what I’ve learned from years of working with clients: as long as you’re able to help them, they don’t care about the things you did before.

Takeaway: If you want to be your own boss – you can!

Bonus Career Misconception: Your Manager Knows What’s Best For You

We often think seniors in our fields know exactly what would work for us. We listen to their advice. But what if we told you this is actually a bad idea?

Check out our blog on why taking others’ advice is a bad idea & what to do instead!

Moving beyond misconceptions

If there’s one thing I hope you take away from these career misconceptions, it’s that you’re in charge of your career. Find out what you want to be doing. Find out what makes you tick, but also what environment helps you be your most vibrant self. Forge your own career path. If possible, surround yourself with others who do the same (and if you can’t do that in real life, do it online). Don’t listen to anyone who’s stuck in outdated systems. And stay awesome.

Footnotes:

1 – In the Netherlands, you can sometimes get into college without finishing high school. (Back to text)