I Didn’t Start With Skills — I Started With Fit

Joon Han
Feb 1
3 min read

Where to begin when you know you want to change, but don’t know how

A Note for Anyone Standing at the Same Starting Point

If you’re considering a career transition and you already have a role in mind, don’t rush.

Before worrying about skill gaps, ask whether the role actually suits you. Look beyond job titles. Read reviews, but don’t rely on them blindly. If you can, talk to people in the field.

Most importantly, give yourself time.

It’s okay to take weeks — or even months — to think deeply. You’re not delaying. You’re designing.

Skills can be learned. Misalignment is much harder to fix.

Where to Begin When You Know You Want to Change

When I first thought about changing careers, I was completely clueless.

I knew one thing clearly: I didn’t want to stay where I was. Beyond that, everything felt vague.

I knew I wanted to move into the digital space, but “digital” is a broad word. It can mean marketing, content, social media, design, analytics, engineering — sometimes all at once.

At that point, I made a conscious decision. I wouldn’t let my lack of knowledge limit my thinking.

Instead of asking, “What am I qualified for?” I asked a different question:

Does this direction align with my interests and principles?

Starting With Direction, Not Skills

My initial research naturally led me to digital marketing. That’s often where “digital” conversations begin.

But the deeper I looked, the more something became clear.

Traditional digital marketing roles tend to be end-to-end:

content creation
social media management
campaign execution
brand handling
client or account ownership

That scope didn’t excite me.

What drew me in was a quieter, narrower layer:

research
data collection
analysis
optimisation

I wasn’t interested in managing a brand voice.I was interested in understanding why something worked — and why it didn’t.

That distinction mattered.

Looking Beyond Job Titles

At this stage, I turned to job platforms and review sites. Glassdoor, in particular, wasn’t very helpful.

Many roles were labelled “Digital Marketing,” but the responsibilities varied wildly. Some were creative-heavy. Some were sales-adjacent. Some tried to be everything at once.

So instead of relying on titles, I zoomed out.

I asked myself:

Where are companies actually moving?
How are consumer behaviours changing?
What happens when buying habits shift online?

Over time, a pattern emerged.

As organisations move deeper into digital channels, new needs surface:

data tracking
behavioural analysis
performance measurement
continuous optimisation

These roles aren’t always clearly named yet. But they exist — and they’re growing.

That’s where the transition began to make sense for me.

Reality-Checking the Role

Even then, I didn’t rush.

I did three things in parallel:

reviewed job listings locally and overseas
asked ChatGPT to surface similar roles, not exact titles
questioned myself honestly: Could I see myself doing this work every day?

The answer, surprisingly, was yes.

Not because it sounded impressive — but because the work itself felt aligned with how I think.

Another factor mattered more than I expected: flexibility.

Given my family situation, hybrid or flexible work wasn’t a “nice to have.” It was necessary. Most analytics-focused digital roles naturally supported that.

That alignment wasn’t accidental. It reinforced that I was moving in the right direction.

The Question That Mattered Most

Only after all this did I ask the final question:

Does the long-term trajectory of this role align with the life I want?

Not just:

salary
job title
market demand

But:

daily work rhythm
cognitive load
sustainability
growth over time

Once I could honestly say yes to that, the transition stopped feeling risky.

It started feeling intentional.

What’s Next

In the next posts, I’ll zoom in on:

the gaps I identified after choosing a direction
how I approached learning without formal retraining
the mental challenges of starting again

This isn’t a guidebook.

It’s a reminder that change doesn’t start with speed or certainty.

It starts with honesty — about who you are, how you think, and what kind of work you can live with every day.

Before learning new skills, I learned to listen.And that made all the difference.