Realising your career doesn’t pay

Share This Post

Diana Probst is a fine artist, and maker. Alongside the creation of fine art pieces in oil, watercolour, and modern materials, Diana makes things that solve problems by creating early prototyping.  If it can be done with a microcontroller and a few motors, or a laser cut enclosure and some 3D printing, she can get it together.

Biggest fuck up?

My career began by accident. I didn’t plan what I was doing. I fixed it by changing what I was doing.

A little explanation: I am a fine artist and maker. It turns out there is not enough money in portrait painting, even though I am very good. 

However, the time it took to learn that gave me networking skills and the confidence that I could work on my own. I’m currently an early-stage prototyper; I can build things to demonstrate a proof of concept and use existing technologies to solve problems. Ultimately I fixed not having one working career by developing another instead.

Lightbulb moment

All the time, I get them. But as far as my career goes, it was realising I could just tell people what I was good at.  Learning to market myself was hard. Learning that I could present people with the option of having a problem solved was way better. I can solve your problems. It’s what I do.

Useful advice

If you’re no good with people, read How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie. If you are good with people, read it anyhow. It’s dated in style but pure gold in content.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Posts

Troublesome hiring, missed Amazon shares, and how to improve your judgment

The most important thing for success is good judgment. But there are very few rules, or best practices, around improving your judgment.

Letting your emotions hold you back

The constant frustration that I wasn’t offered the tasks I felt best suited to. Despite being in the company for years, I felt like I was on the outside.

The Yes Man

In retrospect, I should have just watched “Yes Man”...

Interview with a Business Development Manager at Opia

This weeks interviewee is Simon Wade, who is the...

Urgh, Digital Transformation

As with any new buzzword, common misconceptions and substandard...

Interview with a Clinical Coder at IGT-3-Codex

This week's interviewee is John A. Skelton III, esquire. Chairman of...