Why a Messy PM Career Path is an Advantage

My career started with writing minutes, not strategy. With scheduling meetings, not making decisions. Almost 3 decades later, I lead CHF 100M+ portfolio transformations across European banking. No MBA. No PMP when I began. No family connections in finance. Just curiosity, resilience, and the willingness to solve problems others avoided. The journey wasn’t linear: 🔹Years 1–3: PMO Coordinator Curiosity beats certification. I read every post-mortem report, sat in every lessons-learned session, and asked uncomfortable questions about root causes. 🔹Years 4–6: PMO Analyst Messy projects teach the most. I volunteered for the impossible timelines, unclear requirements, and angry stakeholders. Each crisis was a classroom. 🔹Years 7–10: PMO Manager Risk is only useful when it’s actionable. I stopped reporting what happened and started predicting what would happen, in business language executives could act on. 🔹Years 11–15: Portfolio Management Strategy is the filter. Every initiative had to answer: “How does this create competitive advantage?” If I couldn’t explain the value, neither could anyone else. 🔹Years 16–20: PPM Lead It’s no longer about projects: it’s about decisions. Now I help organizations transform how choices get made, resources get allocated, and value gets realized. What made the difference wasn’t technical knowledge: ➡️Emotional Intelligence: Every project problem is a people problem. Stakeholders don’t resist change, they resist uncertainty. ➡️Adaptability: Each role required unlearning the old way before mastering the new. ➡️Problem-Seeking: I ran toward crises, not away. Credibility is earned in the fire, not in the classroom. ➡️Business Curiosity: I studied the business, not just the projects. That’s why executives started calling me into the room. ➡️Relationships: I helped people succeed before asking for anything. Networks built on mutual value last decades. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲: 📍Expand influence, not titles. Your career isn't about climbing a ladder - it's about expanding your sphere of influence. Each role should teach you to think at a higher organizational level. 📍Solve leadership problems. Start solving problems that matter to leadership, even if they're outside your job description. 📍Experience > credentials. Certifications validate what you know. Experience demonstrates what you can do. Executives hire for impact, not credentials. 📌 𝐓𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐏𝐌𝐎 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬: Organizations are drowning in initiatives without clear value alignment. They need strategic portfolio thinkers more than ever. But success requires more than ambition. It requires courage to take on challenges that stretch you, and persistence to learn from every failure. I started with minutes. You may start somewhere different. But the principle is the same: Your ceiling isn’t set by your background. It’s set by your mindset. ______

The fastest way to become a better Project Manager? 🚫 Stop waiting for perfect processes. ✅ Start managing messy projects. Here’s what most new PMs do: → Build the “ideal” project plan → Obsess over tools and templates → Wait for total clarity → Panic when reality hits Meanwhile, real PMs are already in the trenches: → Managing shifting scope → Leading without full authority → Fixing things they didn’t break → Learning as they go You don’t become a strong project leader by reading PMBOK cover to cover. You grow by navigating uncertainty and owning the chaos. The truth? ✔ You’ll never have all the answers ✔ Your Gantt chart will get wrecked ✔ Your best skill will be adaptability, not perfection ✔ Your real job is people, not just process Some of the best PMs I’ve worked with: → Didn’t have a certification → Weren’t great with Jira → But they could rally a team and deliver under pressure So if you're new to PM—or stuck waiting for the "right time" to lead… ⚠️ Don’t wait for perfect clarity 🚀 Take initiative 🧠 Learn from mistakes 📈 Improve on the move Execution teaches faster than education. Ownership beats experience. Start messy. Adjust fast. Deliver anyway. 📩 Looking for someone who can lead your next project with clarity, grit, and real results? Let’s connect. I help teams turn chaos into delivery—on time, without the drama. 👉 DM me or drop a comment. Let's build something that actually ships

I see product leaders making the same hiring mistake constantly. They're obsessed with finding PMs who followed the "perfect" path: → CS degree from top school → McKinsey/Bain consulting stint → MBA from Stanford/Wharton → APM program at Google/Meta Here's what they're missing: The best PMs I know got there "accidentally." My own journey proves this. A football player literally bought my mortgage company, which somehow led me into product management. No MBA. No prestigious APM program. Just a messy, winding path that gave me something those traditional candidates often lack: Real customer obsession. When you've actually run a business that fails if customers don't buy, you understand market fit differently. When you've been in the trenches solving real problems for real people, you don't need frameworks to tell you what matters. I learned something crucial in my years coaching executives and leading product teams at Indeed: The highest-leverage thing any product leader can do is hire great PMs. But "great" doesn't look like what most job descriptions ask for. The PMs who move the needle are the ones who: ✓ Talk to customers every single week (non-negotiable) ✓ Can tell the story of their failures, not just successes ✓ Understand that product is about people, not just features ✓ Bring diverse perspectives from unconventional backgrounds The cultural blind spot I see constantly? Product teams hiring for pedigree instead of customer empathy. They want someone who can build the perfect PRD, but can't spot the difference between features customers want vs. features customers actually need. Your "messy" path isn't a bug—it's a feature. That stint in sales? You learned how customers actually make decisions. That time in customer support? You know what breaks when products scale. That failed startup? You understand what happens when product-market fit doesn't exist. The question isn't whether your background is conventional enough for product management. The question is: Are you obsessed with solving problems that matter to real people? --- What's the most "unconventional" background on your product team that turned out to be exactly what you needed? I'm collecting stories of PMs who took the scenic route—drop yours below. #ProductManagement #Hiring #ProductLeadership #CareerAdvice #CustomerObsession #ProductStrategy #Leadership #TechCareers

Messy journey? Read this.  When you scroll through LinkedIn,   every story looks linear.   Every founder looks like they had a perfect plan.  But what we don’t see    are the failed prototypes.   The wrong hires.   The sleepless pivots.   The “should I quit?” moments.  Truth is, no one’s path is straight.   Especially not the ones building something real.  I’ve learned this the hard way.   The products that failed?   They taught me how to ship faster.   The clients that walked away?   They taught me how to build trust that lasts.  Every so-called mistake became part of the system.   Every U-turn built my clarity.  Because progress isn’t a straight line   it’s an evolving loop of risk, reflection, and reinvention.  And here’s the shift:   The mess *isn’t* something to hide.   It’s where your edge is built.  We spend so much time polishing our story   when what people really connect with   is the part we almost gave up.  If your path feels chaotic,   you’re probably learning faster than most.  Keep experimenting.   Keep iterating.   Keep showing up especially when it’s messy.  Your non-linear path is your superpower.  Because in the end,   the best builders don’t avoid chaos.   They learn how to turn it into clarity.  Hammad Tariq   Founder, AIM Digital Technologies  

They called it professional suicide. Now I teach executives how to do it too. 19 job changes. 5 countries. 25 years of 'destroying my career.' LinkedIn would call it job hopping. My mother called it instability. My peers called it insanity. I call it building a portfolio career. Every few years, something shifts inside me. A deep, cellular-level pull to change. When I left my first job after just 15 months, I told my mum: "There’s no better time to leave." She was appalled. Stability was everything to her generation. Two years later, I left again. Then again. 10 role changes at Citi alone. 5 countries. 21 years. Each time, the same warnings: "You are destroying your resume." "No one will hire someone so unstable." "Pick a lane and stick to it." At 50, I left my COO role to start over. The warnings got louder. Here's what they didn't understand: I was building a portfolio of capabilities. Think of it this way: • One skill = one solution • Two skills = four possibilities   • Ten skills? Infinite angles others can't see Your experience doesn't add up. It multiplies. Today’s job market doesn’t reward specialists. It rewards adaptable thinkers who can: → Connect dots others can’t see → Solve problems from multiple angles → Reinvent themselves - fast → Lead in ambiguity Your “messy” path isn’t a liability. It’s the blueprint for the future of work. The executives I coach now? They are not hiring for skills anymore. They are hiring for adaptability. And guess who's perfectly positioned? The "job hoppers" they used to reject. Start building your portfolio today: → List every "random" experience → Find the connecting threads → Write your evolution story → Stop apologizing for your path Because in a world that reinvents itself daily? Your ability to change IS your stability. 💬 What was your boldest career shift? Drop it below. ♻️ Repost this to help someone stop apologising for evolving. 👥 Follow me, Ani Filipova, for daily proof that different is better. 🌍 Join other professionals building portfolio careers in my community- link in Featured