Latest / Career Skills with Fexingo: Hard Skills, Soft Skills, and Future-Proofing Your Career / How to Use Skills Maps to Navigate a Career Pivot
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, I want to talk about the moment you realize you're in the wrong role — not because you can't do the job, but because the job doesn't fit where you want to go next. Luna: That feeling where you're competent, maybe even good at what you do, but you look at the trajectory and think — this isn't it. Lucas: Exactly. And the standard advice is to just 'pivot' — but pivoting without a map is how you end up taking a pay cut into an entry-level role you could have skipped. So I want to talk about something concrete: skills maps. Luna: A skills map — like a literal diagram of what you know and what you need? Or more of a mental model? Lucas: I mean a literal diagram. You draw it. I've been playing with this approach for the last few months after watching a friend navigate a pivot from marketing to product management at HubSpot. She did it in about six months, without going back to school, without taking a demotion. And the key was mapping her skills. Luna: So walk me through the map. What does it look like? A grid? A tree? Lucas: I like a two-column approach. Left column: 'What I Do Today.' Right column: 'What I Want to Do.' Under each column, you list every skill you use — hard skills, soft skills, domain knowledge, tools. Then you draw lines connecting overlaps. For my friend, the marketing side had 'user research,' 'A/B testing,' 'cross-functional stakeholder management,' 'roadmap input via product team.' The product side needed 'user research,' 'A/B testing,' 'stakeholder management,' 'roadmap ownership.' The overlap was huge — maybe 60 percent of the skills transferred directly. Luna: So the gap wasn't as big as she thought. That's the trap, right? You assume you're starting from zero. Lucas: Huge trap. Most people overestimate the gap by a factor of two or three. Because we focus on the job title — 'product manager' — and we think we need the whole skill set. But if you decompose it into actual behaviors, you find you're already doing half of them. The gap is narrower than you think. Luna: What were the gaps for her? The stuff that didn't transfer? Lucas: Three things. First: writing product requirement documents, or PRDs. Second: using SQL to query user data directly — she relied on a data team. Third: running a prioritization framework like RICE — reach, impact, confidence, effort. That was it. Three gaps. So she made a 90-day learning plan that targeted exactly those three things. Luna: So the map told her where to focus. Instead of trying to learn everything about product management, she zeroed in on the three concrete things that would actually unlock the role. Lucas: Right. And that's the whole point. A skills map forces you to get specific. You can't map 'product management' as a blob. You have to list the actual tasks. And once you do, the learning path becomes obvious. She found a PRD template online, practiced writing three over two weeks. She did a free SQL course on Mode Analytics — took about 20 hours total. And she learned RICE by applying it to a side project. Luna: What was the side project? Because that's usually the hardest part — you need to actually demonstrate the skill, not just learn about it. Lucas: She built a mini product proposal for an internal tool her team used. She interviewed users, wrote a PRD, prioritized features with RICE, and presented it to her manager. She never called it a 'side project' — she framed it as 'I noticed we could improve this workflow, so I did some analysis.' Her manager was impressed enough to let her shadow the product team for a week. Luna: So the micro-project doubled as both practice and proof. That's smart. And it's low-risk — no one's betting their job on it. Lucas: Exactly. And six months later, when a product role opened up internally, she applied with a portfolio that included that PRD, the SQL queries she'd written, and the RICE analysis. She got the job without having to leave the company, without a pay cut. The skills map was the blueprint. Luna: I want to try this myself. I'm not planning a pivot, but I bet mapping my current role would show me where I'm over-indexing on things that don't matter for my next step. Lucas: That's actually the second use case — optimization, not just pivoting. You might find that 40 percent of your weekly tasks are skills that don't align with your growth direction. That's useful data. You can start delegating, automating, or just doing less of them. Luna: How do you structure the map if you don't have a specific target role? What if you just know you want something different but you're not sure what? Lucas: Then you map both columns against three or four aspirational roles. Say you're a project manager. You might map against product management, program management, operations, and maybe consulting. You'll see which one has the most overlap with your current skills. The one with the most overlap is your easiest pivot — not necessarily the most exciting, but the one with the least friction. Luna: That's a good reality check. Because sometimes the 'dream job' is actually a huge leap, and there's a stepping-stone role that gets you there in two moves instead of one. Lucas: Right. And the map helps you see those stepping stones. For example, if you're a teacher and you want to get into instructional design, map both. You'll find huge overlaps in curriculum planning, assessment design, and audience analysis. The gap might be learning authoring tools like Articulate Rise. That's a 30-hour course. Then you can get a contract role and bridge to the full role. Luna: So the map prevents you from making a blind jump. It turns a scary career change into a series of manageable skill acquisitions. Lucas: Exactly. And it's a living document. You update it every quarter. Because your skills change, and the target role changes. The market changes. Six months ago, nobody was talking about AI prompt engineering for product managers. Now it's a common requirement. Luna: Do you have a template you recommend? Or do people just draw it on a whiteboard? Lucas: Both work. I like a simple spreadsheet with three columns: skill category, current proficiency, target proficiency. Then a separate sheet for the gap analysis. But honestly, a whiteboard with sticky notes is just as good. The act of writing it down is what matters. You're forcing your brain to be specific. Luna: And then you share it with someone — a mentor, a peer — to get a reality check. Because you might think you're good at something when you're not, or vice versa. Lucas: Huge point. I'd add one more thing: after you map, pick one micro-project that targets the biggest gap. Not all gaps. The biggest one. Because if you try to close three gaps at once, you'll burn out. One micro-project, 90 days, then reassess. Luna: That's actionable. I think a lot of our listeners are sitting at their desks right now thinking, 'I need a change but I don't know where to start.' This gives them a starting point. Lucas: And it's free. You don't need a career coach or a course. Just a piece of paper and an honest look at what you actually do all day. Luna: Speaking of free — this podcast is free because of listeners who chip in a few dollars. If you've gotten value from episodes like this one, especially if you've used a skills map or any of the frameworks we've talked about, consider supporting us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Even a couple of bucks helps us stay ad-free and focused on the content. Lucas: Yeah, it genuinely makes a difference. We don't have sponsors, we don't run ads — it's just listener support. So if you've found this useful, that link is the way to say thanks. Luna: Alright, back to the map. One thing I'd add: once you've done your micro-project, update the map. Because you'll have closed a gap, and maybe a new one appears. It's iterative. Lucas: Exactly. And then you decide — do I want to go for the pivot now, or do I need one more cycle? That's the beauty of a skills map: it gives you data, not just hope. You know exactly where you stand. Luna: So if someone listening wants to start today — walk them through the first ten minutes. Lucas: Grab a piece of paper. Draw a vertical line down the middle. Left side: your current job title. List every skill you used this week — be as granular as 'responding to Slack messages' or 'creating a slide deck.' Right side: pick one role you're curious about. List the skills you think that role requires. Then circle the overlaps. That's ten minutes. You'll immediately see where you are and where you're not. Luna: And if you don't know the target role's skills well enough, go on LinkedIn, find three people with that title, and look at the 'skills' section on their profiles. That's another ten minutes. Lucas: Perfect. So by the end of your lunch break, you have a rough map. And then you can decide: is this pivot worth pursuing? Or do I need to explore a different target? The map gives you clarity fast.