Career Change
Background
I have been working in the retail and food catering industry for over 7 years now. Started out as a “Sandwich Artist” in Subway at the age of 17.
I went from making sandwiches, to:
- Serving sushi
- Working in a media company that live streams on TikTok
- Retail experience in an Asian grocery store (including invoice processing and website management)
- Brewing coffee at Starbucks (I now proudly have my own espresso machine, miles better)
- Retail at M&S (current job as of 2025)
Why am I seeking a career change?
Apart from money and personal life reasons, I never had a “passion” for retail. Not to shame those who work in retail and the likes, I don’t find myself to care about retail besides the salary that I need. I have built up a lot of respect for those who work in retail, especially towards the bottom of the hierarchy.
What is the new beginning?
Unfortunately, I don’t actually have a goal that drives me out of bed every morning, ready to tackle the next obstacle in the way. What I do know, is the fact that I am passionate about all things tech related.
As ordinary as this may sound, I love problem solving. Typing this out on my Lenovo T480 that currently runs Arch Linux using Doom Emacs, I can also be certain that I have a thing for computers. And so I have concluded this attempt at entering the IT industry.
My first stepping stone would ideally be something along the lines of “Cloud Ops”. (I landed at this after some consideration of both my past, current situation and future outlook)
THE PLAN
Like many things in life, the path is very unclear and likely to have many unpredictable changes.
To make sure that I don’t stray too far off, I will need a plan.
The middle ground
Due to personal life circumstances, I am considering the option of a “bridge role”. These are more “realistic” and approachable job options that I can obtain with my existing skill set and experience, not relying on the outcome of this plan.