The scary truth about service design careers / Alessandra Canella / Episode #139

Regardless of where you are today in your career, at some point you'll want to work on new challenges, learn new things and be exposed to new experiences. When you start to get this itch it's important to recognize that it's a pivotal moment. At this point one might take the approach where they grab the best next opportunity that presents itself on the journey. This opportunistic approach will probably lead you to some interesting adventures, but it also comes with a significant risk. When you let your career be determined by the direction of the wind you might end up drifting away from the things you love to do. And the longer you stay in this position the harder it will be to let go of the lifestyle that comes with it. This is exactly what happened to Alessandra Canella, our guest in this episode. Her career took a path which is similar to many service design professionals. Starting out as a practitioner she slowly worked her way "up" to being a lead, managing a design team. But what if you discover that you don't enjoy management, at all? What if you realize that your true passion is to stay close to the actual practice? Are there still any growth opportunities left for you as a service design professional? This was the burning question Alessandra needed to find an answer to. In this episode of the Show we discuss how she took a designerly career development approach and managed to reignite the fire within her. You can't guarantee that every step in your career will work out the way you hope. But there's definitely a lot you can do to increase the likelihood. --- [ GUIDE ] -— 00:00 Welcome to episode 139 04:20 Who is Alessandra 05:00 60 second rapid fire 07:15 Career paths in service design 09:00 Key moments 15:15 Deliberate or organic path 18:45 The expectation 24:45 A lateral move 30:15 It's not for every organisation 33:00 How to stay on track 39:15 Finding the courage 42:15 The right moment to move 47:00 Recognizing the signals 53:00 Closing thoughts --- [ LINKS ] --- * https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessandracanella/ --- [ HOW TO EXPLAIN SERVICE DESIGN ] --- Learn what it takes to get your clients, colleagues, managers, CEOs and even grandmas as excited about service design as you are. https://servicedesignshow.com/free-course