Latest / Career Skills with Fexingo: Hard Skills, Soft Skills, and Future-Proofing Your Career / How Skill Detours Build Career Resilience
Transcript
- Lucas: So Luna, I was reading about this graphic designer who spent nine months training as a plumber. And on paper, that looks like a total career detour. But it actually ended up making her more valuable in her design niche. Luna: Okay, that's a surprising one. How does plumbing help a graphic designer? Lucas: Well, she designs bathroom systems for sustainable housing projects. And she realized that to really design for water efficiency, she needed to understand the actual pipes and flow dynamics. So she went and got a basic plumbing certification. Now she's one of the few designers who can talk shop with the engineers and contractors on a whole different level. Luna: That's a perfect example of a skill detour. You step off your main path, learn something tangential, and it circles back to amplify what you already do. Lucas: Exactly. And I think we've all heard the advice to stay focused, go deep, don't get distracted. But there's a growing case for intentional detours as a strategic career move. The key is that it's not random, it's purposeful. Luna: So how do you decide whether a detour is worth the time and effort, versus just a distraction? Lucas: First, you want it to be adjacent to your field, even if it's not directly in it. The plumbing example works because it's in the same industry. But it could also be something like a marketer learning basic coding to better communicate with developers. Or a finance person taking a course in graphic design to make better presentations. Luna: Right, it's about building a bridge between two areas. And that bridge can become your unique selling point. Lucas: Yeah, and there's research on this. Psychologists have found that people with varied experiences tend to be more creative problem-solvers. They can draw on a wider range of analogies and approaches. It's like having more tools in your toolbox. Luna: I can relate to that. A few years ago, I took a part-time job in customer service while I was between analytics roles. And honestly, it felt like a step back. But I learned how to explain complex data to non-technical people in plain language. That skill has been huge in my current role. Lucas: See, that's a detour that pays off. The key is to frame it as a deliberate choice, not a fallback. When you're interviewing, you can say, 'I took this time to develop a skill that I believed would make me better at X.' That's a powerful narrative. Luna: And it also shows resilience and adaptability. Employers love people who can pivot and learn new things on their own initiative. Lucas: Absolutely. And it's not just about the skill itself. It's about the meta-skill of learning. When you successfully pick up something outside your comfort zone, you prove that you can learn anything. That's really attractive in a fast-changing job market. Luna: So what are some practical ways to identify a good detour? Like, what questions should you ask yourself? Lucas: Start with your end goal. What problem are you trying to solve in your career? What's the bottleneck? Then look for a skill that directly addresses that bottleneck, even if it's not in your job description. The graphic designer's bottleneck was understanding the engineering side. Your customer service detour addressed a communication gap. Luna: That makes sense. It's almost like a gap analysis for your own skills. Lucas: Exactly. And the detour should be time-boxed. You don't want to wander for years. Set a specific goal, like 'I'm going to spend six months learning the basics of SQL' or 'I'll take a weekend workshop on public speaking.' That keeps it focused. Luna: And how do you talk about it on your resume? I think a lot of people worry that a non-linear career path looks bad. Lucas: You frame it as a targeted professional development. You don't have to list every job chronologically if a detour was temporary. You can create a section called 'Specialized Training' or 'Skill Development' and highlight what you learned and the outcome. It's about the story you tell. Luna: And in an interview, you can turn it into a mini case study. Like, 'Here's a challenge I faced, here's the detour I took, here's the result.' That's a memorable answer. Lucas: For sure. And it also shows you're not afraid to get your hands dirty. That's a quality that's hard to teach. Luna: Speaking of getting your hands dirty, we should mention that listener support is what keeps this show ad-free. If you've gotten something out of our career conversations, a couple of dollars a month makes a real difference. You can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small way to keep these episodes coming. Lucas: Yeah, we really appreciate it. It helps us keep doing the research and bringing you these stories. Now, back to detours — there's another angle I want to explore. Sometimes a detour can reveal a completely new passion that changes your whole career direction. Luna: Oh, like when you take a coding class just to improve your workflow and end up loving it so much you switch to a tech role. Lucas: Exactly. And that's not a failure of your original plan. It's an evolution. The detour showed you something about yourself you didn't know. And the skills you built along the way aren't wasted — they become part of your unique blend. Luna: That's a really positive way to look at it. So instead of fearing a detour, you can view it as an experiment. Like, 'Let's see what happens if I try this.' Lucas: And the best part is, you can start small. You don't have to commit months. Take a weekend workshop, shadow a colleague in another department, do a short freelance project in a different field. The point is to dip your toe in and see if there's something there. Luna: And collect data on yourself. What did you enjoy? What came naturally? What would you want to learn more about? That's valuable information no matter what. Lucas: So as we wrap up, I want to leave you with this: your career doesn't have to be a straight line. Some of the most successful people have taken detours that looked like diversions at the time but ended up being the secret sauce to their success. So don't be afraid to take a purposeful detour now and then. It might just be the best career move you make. Luna: Well said, Lucas. And if you're thinking about a detour, maybe start by asking yourself what bottleneck you're facing in your career right now. That could be your clue. Lucas: Thanks for listening, everyone. Until next time, keep learning.