Fueling the Career Fire: Network Events as Motivatione-networking-events-as-motivation
Excerpt: Even if you have your dream job, there are some days or weeks when your motivation can falter. Maybe you're distracted with other things going on in your personal life or you have to complete certain tasks that day or week that aren't the tasks you enjoy the most in your job.
During these times, I find it helpful to find motivation and inspiration outside of myself and my work. I find one really good way to get inspired again is to attend events on a work-related or work-adjacent topic that I'm interested in, and that will also attract a crowd that could be inspiring as well.
Winding Career Paths: Managing Risk and Uncertainty
Excerpt: One of my favorite sayings is that you should be stubborn about goals, but flexible about your methods. I love this idea but I've found that I have to interpret it correctly for it to be helpful.
In terms of career goals, I've interpreted this to mean being stubborn about certain fundamental and underlying aspects of what I want out of my career, such as a career that is purposeful, that matches my interests and skills, and that affords me a certain level of independence and flexibility. I used to focus on specific positions as my goals, which was a mistaken approach from the beginning. By focusing only on a specific job title, I wasn't really thinking about what I wanted to get out of a job, and I would be disappointed in not getting that specific job title, even if a different role provided me fundamentally with job satisfaction.
Getting from A to B: Transitioning from Law to Tech
Excerpt: It took me about three months to complete my transition from law into legal tech, from the time I made the decision until I found and was hired at an exciting legal tech startup. During this time, I reached out to my network, did a lot of reading and attended numerous events. Although I benefited from many resources during my search, I also found it more difficult given that I was going down a non-traditional career path for JDs. Hopefully, my experience can help provide an example of one way to transition from the traditional legal industry to a career in legal tech.