Kudos to Miguel Sosa for inspiring this post after a conversation on choosing a career and entrepreneurship.
This career approach involves three different lines, each representing an average for a career path you can choose. Important to note upfront: don't expect your journey to look exactly like these lines. When you zoom in, it could look more like a volatile stock chart because of the highs and lows that happen in life.
The three lines, visualized.
Line #1 — Linear job
If you choose to pursue a very structured environment, this is your line. It applies at large corporations and institutions where there's a defined career path and growth plan. This line typically spans a 10 to 20 year career, and volatility is very low unless there's a major economic or intra-company crisis.
Example: Analyst → Associate → VP → MD at a large corporation.
Line #2 — Growth job
Under this line, you might feel that more speed is needed and that you can handle more uncertainty in projects. Speed is higher and there are points where you could break down. However, there's somewhat of a structure — although most things are self-learned and checked with managers every once in a while.
The good thing about the world nowadays is that technology brings more opportunities like these, where you get to wear different hats at a startup. This is as close as you can get to building a business without being the founder — giving you the chance to learn the ropes of what it takes to build one.
Example: 0.1% – 5% equity as an early adopter in a startup.
Line #3 — Entrepreneurship
I can't speak from experience here, but every entrepreneurship story I've read or listened to is about ultra-highs and ultra-lows for a sustained period of time before things click. You probably hold a lot of equity if you choose this path, so it's expected to be more volatile — the stakes are higher and the entrepreneur controls most of the outcome.
Example: 25% – 100% equity.
What it takes to jump from one line to another
Of course, this is not absolute — the lines have their own derivatives. For instance, there are entrepreneurship ventures that are more linear, such as a services business or an agency. And you may find yourself at a growth company in a high-volatility industry that swings almost like an entrepreneurship venture, due to market cycles or the evolution of technology.
Choose a line that fits what you want.