Today we are talking to Ania Jassak – Junior Product Owner after changing from the TSL industry. Ania went through the whole process of changing the industry, which included training, finding mentors, gaining knowledge. Thanks to the awareness of their advantages on the labor market, such as transferable skills (i.e. those that can be used in the target industry, and come from previous experience) or knowledge of the French language – this process was successful. Read what Ania’s story looked like.
- Dookoła Pracy: Ania, you are one of the people we supported in the process of changing from a TSL specialist to a Product Owner. This is a very large and comprehensive change. Why did you decide to take this step and why did you choose this role?
Ania Jassak: My life situation brought me to the point where decisions were necessary. The burnout left its mark. In addition to financial and family difficulties, I lacked an extremely important thing – development. For me, it is necessary to live like water. Without learning, exploring, analyzing, creating, consulting, interacting… It’s a bit of a sad existence. It wasn’t an obvious role right away. While searching for the right path, I began to learn about Agile methods and frameworks. Scrum drew me in more and more. Both the role of the Scrum Master and the Product Owner were close to me. In my previous job in TSL, I played both roles. However, they were not interpreted and specified.
In the end, several people had an invaluable influence on these decisions… I especially remembered conversations with Łukasz Filut and Marta Danielczyk… She made me realize that if I want to co-create, have an impact on something, also implement my ideas, support others, develop, this is the role for me. I was greeted by the first one “in the circle”. And she gave the proverbial kick for luck. Łukasz invited me to joint conversations, consultations, exchanges of opinions and experiences, consciously or not – he directed me to the right choice.
- DP: What helped you the most in the process of changing your industry?
Ania: Support of others. Dispelling doubts, suggesting publications, sharing knowledge, consultations, activities, tasks. And certainly a lot of stubbornness and motivation. In addition, openness and (for me natural) ability to ask questions. It wasn’t easy.
- DP: In our program “Change the Industry in 5 Steps”, after determining what the target role is in line with our values and talents, in the first step we carry out an analysis of recruitment requirements and competence gaps. What areas did you have to explore to enter a new role and how long did it take you to acquire new knowledge?
Ania: The process took me about 8 months. It was a comprehensive change. I had to learn basic expressions (although it comes more with time), learn more about the work environment, the scope of tasks. It was like learning a foreign language from scratch. The School of Product Owner of Natalia Cholewa gave me full foundations and values. It allowed you to understand the scope of work in this role, responsibilities and requirements, work style, ways of communicating and communicating, how work looks like in Confluence and Jira.
- DP: Tell us what competencies/skills were scalable in your case and were transferred from the previous role?
Ania: Definitely proactivity. The natural ability to ask questions, the need to look for solutions and answers, the creation and visualization of needs, translating this into “doable”, communication with people and cooperation. Work organization and time management. Teamwork. I think that from each of my previous professional experience – tourism/finance/TSL, a dozen or so solid common points can be identified. It should also not be forgotten that a foreign language, especially a non-standard one, is one of the greatest values.
- DP: Changeover is a process that teaches us patience and perseverance in striving. Of course, there are moments of doubt, and it is then that people who are our partners in change play a significant role. Tell us who supported you in this change and what were your biggest emotional challenges
Ania: I was certainly very supported by my husband, who was also not easy to take over the kids while I was working full-time, doing household chores, analyzing publications and spending evenings and weekends studying. In the first phase of the changes, I undertook an accounting course, a product owner’s school, other free courses, participation in meetups – the most valuable: Improwizatorium and in Agilexpres (conducted by Marcin Kępka and Mariusz Baranowski) and much more. From the beginning, I was also supported by Natalia Cholewa (thank you!), who answered hundreds of questions. You supported me in my doubts about the target role, competence analysis and CV adaptation. I was strongly supported and taught by the members of Agile.Org.Pl (Michał, Iza, Marek, Andrzej, Magda). We also supported ourselves strongly in our SPO mastermind group, especially active Kasia Młynarczyk, Natalia Patucha, Ewa Jakubowska Marek Melzacki. And the aforementioned Łukasz Filut. Consultations with him made me feel the need to deepen my knowledge, better and wider verification, experiments.
Emotionally, there was total exhaustion. Sometimes, from the exhaustion of my mind, I slept for 3 hours a night, which resulted in irritability, greater emotionality. I used to say stop to take a few breaths.
- DP: Did you have a mentor who shared industry knowledge and introduced you to a new field?
Ania: I think so. It may not have been official, but I can definitely describe Natalia Cholewa as such a mentor. Without her, all this would not have started. Later, at least in terms of Scrum Master – Marek Konderski and Iza Januszewska. Michał Januszewski still supports doubts. But there is one more person who, for several conversations, had a huge impact on it, gave thought, action, directed to the search. Łukasz Filut. I mentioned him earlier. Without him, I probably wouldn’t be in the place and role I dreamed of.
- DP: At a certain stage of changing profession, we will have to use application documents. Importantly, it is worth showing the CV in a layout other than chronological. A good solution is a functional layout, which we have also suggested to you. How did this change affect the response you received in response to your resume?
Ania: I wanted to create an unusual CV that would express me more. The first testers of my CV were you, Marek Konderski, Michał Januszewski and Łukasz Filut. You and Marek worked on it the most to direct my thoughts, indicate actions or achievements. I did not send my CV everywhere where there were offers for PO and SM. I carefully analyzed where I could fit in. There was always a response. Only one place refused to start the process because of the obvious lack of experience in the industry.
- DP: When we change our industry, it is crucial to build a personal brand in a new field. Tell us how you worked on LinkedIn to achieve this goal and get noticed by recruiters
Ania: I am not entirely convinced whether the action was intentional. I just wrote my thoughts, analyzes, opinions. I contributed to the publications in the comments, I recommended what I had already checked and the people I met, I helped others find the right ads for them. This made many people want to know my opinion, share theirs, exchange thoughts. Such an unusual brainstorming session.
- DP: Your golden advice for people who are changing their industry is…
It seems trivial, but – don’t give up. Motivate. Feed your dreams. Everything takes time, which passes anyway, bringing you closer to your goal. Learn, analyze, participate in groups and various meetups. Find a mentor. Participate in events. Realize it won’t be easy, but I KNOW you can handle it!