Personal Entry: The plans for the year AKA The path forward

It seems my road has come to a fork. I either continue my 9-5 endeavours in Finance/Data, maybe go the coding route, or change to a completely new direction, and choose to do Marketing in 40 hours a week.

I have 10 years of experience in the Finance/Data field, so I could easily apply for team leader positions, or at least senior positions, and have a favourable outcome. The problem with that, is I really don’t give a sh*t about Finance. It’s boring, the value is money saved, not directly impacting sales/revenue, and of course the copro job is really not about end-to-end processes. I’m starting to hate it.

Now, the coding route. This is where the value you create is the hours saved for your customers. I’ve had HR reach out to me about a position within this field not too long ago, and I’m seriously considering it. I’ve got the knack for coding, it can be fun. There’s an element of creation in that. And I see the value in saving time and streamlining/automating to be more worthy of a job.

But the real killer route, the Marketing. That’s what pulls me the most. Marketing has been part of my daily life for the past 6 months. I’ve been studying this field, learning as best as I can, slowly reprograming my mind to see the world from a marketing and sales lens. It’s inevitable for a business point of view. In the process, I kinda fell in love with this field. The value creation directly impacting revenue and profit, creativity is at it’s peak, analytics is very important to track performance, and just overall the high energy and high level environment and people I’ve come across online in the space is unparalelled.

The only problem here is, what if I want to go the freelance route? Can I work in marketing in my 9-5, and also do pro bono work on the side? Could this be part of the job contract?

The experience I would get is huge. Having direct impact on a company’s performance, seeing all the tools in the flesh, learning how to navigate the space. This could be a huge bump in both my professional and personal life. More experience in this space, higher value opportunities in the future, and more aligned with my long-term path.

Right now, I imagine this kind of job would be way more fulfilling to me. Just the sheer ecstasy I get when I find a value-packed youtube video, the content, the people in the space, the possibilities. I cannot really see any downsides.

For the next 3 months, I will be contemplating these possibilities. It’s currently January, 2025. Winter is for recharing, planning, getting myself ready for the sprint of spring and summer. By the end of March, I will have a definitive answer. This is a promise to myself, and I make this publicly. Hold me accountable.

Spring is the time for rebirth.

Let’s join this natural cycle.