The Unwritten Career Narrative

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 09:00:00 -0600

The career move I’ve had to explain most often wasn’t leaving one industry for another. It was moving into product.

On paper, the role carried less organizational scope than the positions I’d held before it. I was giving up some authority and stepping closer to the work. The second part is why I took it. The first part is the only one other people seemed to notice.

When we talk about our careers, we reach for lines like “in a past life, I…” The first version of mine was entrepreneurial. Then a small aviation and engineering shop, then public education, then “startup life” in productivity and content promotion, then, most recently, fintech and small business growth. I’ve enjoyed learning through every level, from entry-level tech to small business owner to CTO to product director, not because something forced the change, but because I kept finding work in each area that I wanted to do. The product move was the one that didn’t read as progression to the people watching from outside.

Meaning on David R. Longnecker - Converting Coffee to Code

The Unwritten Career Narrative