Eight years sounds like a long time until you look back and realise how much of it you spent figuring things out as you went.
When I started working in digital, I didn’t have a perfectly mapped-out career plan. I started around websites and technology, became curious about what happened after a website went live, discovered digital marketing, and eventually found my way into SEO.
If I could sit down with the younger version of myself, I wouldn’t give him a list of tools to learn.
I’d probably tell him these things instead.
You don’t need to have your career figured out
This would be the first thing.
At the beginning, it can feel like everyone else knows exactly where they’re going.
They don’t.
I certainly didn’t.
My journey has included web development, digital marketing, teaching, SEO, agency work, and eventually managing SEO. Some moves made sense immediately. Others only made sense when I looked backwards.
Your first job doesn’t have to define your career.
Sometimes it’s greatest value is introducing you to the question that leads to the next thing.
Stay curious longer than everyone else
If there’s one thing that has consistently helped my career, it’s curiosity.
SEO itself entered my life because I wanted to understand how people found the websites we were building.
That could have been where the questions stopped.
Instead, one question became another.
How does Google work?
How do you measure whether something is working?
Why does one page perform better than another?
How does content influence behaviour?
Today, the questions are about AI, cybersecurity, Python and where technology is heading next.
You don’t need to know everything.
But never become too experienced to be a beginner again.
Learn the fundamentals, not just the tools
I’ve used a lot of tools over the years.
Some I still use. Some disappeared. Others completely changed.
The same will happen with today’s AI tools.
Learning software is useful, but understanding why you’re using it matters more.
Learn how websites work.
Learn how people search.
Learn how to interpret data.
Learn how to communicate.
Learn how businesses make money.
Tools change.
Those skills travel with you.
Your technical skills will only take you so far
Earlier in my career, I thought getting better meant learning more technical things.
And yes, technical ability matters.
But as my career progressed, I realised how much of the job involves people.
Can you explain a complicated problem simply?
Can you defend your recommendation without becoming defensive?
Can you listen?
Can you tell someone that an idea isn’t going to work?
Can you understand what a client actually cares about rather than what you think they should care about?
The further I’ve progressed, the more valuable those skills have become.
Don’t underestimate teaching
At one point in my career, I became a lecturer.
It might look like a detour from the outside.
I don’t see it that way.
Teaching forces you to understand something differently. You quickly discover the difference between knowing something and being able to explain it.
That lesson followed me back into agency life.
Whether I’m talking to a client, presenting a strategy or helping someone else understand SEO, I’m still teaching in some form.
Work with people who see something in you
I’ve been fortunate to have people give me opportunities before I had everything figured out.
That matters.
Early in your career, pay attention to the people who challenge you, trust you with responsibility and encourage your curiosity.
A good manager can change the direction of your career.
So can a bad one.
Choose your environments carefully when you have the opportunity.
Don’t chase titles too aggressively
Specialist. Strategist. Project Manager. Manager.
Titles are useful.
But they can also distract you.
A better question is:
Am I becoming more capable?
Are you solving harder problems?
Are you being trusted with greater responsibility?
Are you learning from people around you?
Are you doing work you’re proud of?
A promotion is great.
Growth is better.
Your career doesn’t need to stay in one lane
This is something I’m reminding myself of right now.
SEO is where I’ve built much of my professional expertise, but I’m also learning cybersecurity and Python and spending a lot of time thinking about AI.
Will all of those things become part of my career?
I don’t know.
Eight years ago, I couldn’t have predicted where SEO would take me either.
That’s why I’m comfortable not knowing.
Keep going
If I could leave my younger self with one final thought, it would be simple.
Keep going.
There will be jobs you don’t get.
Things you don’t understand.
Strategies that don’t work.
Moments when someone in the room knows far more than you.
There will always be another thing to learn.
That’s not evidence that you’re behind.
That’s the career.
Eight-plus years later, I still don’t have everything figured out.
The difference is that I no longer think I’m supposed to.
