What work were you doing previously?    

I worked as a lawyer for over a decade. 

I ran my own legal practice for around six years. I mostly supported entrepreneurs and start-ups in the fields of civil, commercial and intellectual property law.

What are you doing now?    

Right now, I’m on the opposite side, yet still working closely with lawyers. 

I help legal and procurement departments in large organisations with technology transformation around contract lifecycle management.

On a daily basis, I work with clients’ documentation, identifying opportunities to optimise and harmonise their templates and preparing them for future implementation.

My current role is much more focused on project management and stakeholder management than on law itself. So I made an unusual career pivot, from being an attorney-at-law and entrepreneur to becoming an employee in a Big Four company.

Why did you change?

I always felt that career fulfilment matters more than anything. 

So from the very beginning, I was trying to find my place. In my second year at university, I realised I didn’t have the same passion that many of my peers had, but I hoped that spark would appear one day. It didn’t.

At the same time, from my second year of studies, I started doing internships to understand what the legal profession actually looked like.

When I was around 30, I opened my own practice, and I would say it was a great time, mostly because I was developing my own business.

Watching it grow and seeing clients return or refer me to their friends was truly amazing. But deep down, I knew being a lawyer wasn’t my cup of tea.

I was good at it, mainly because I’m a professional by nature, but it cost me a lot of energy to deal with matters that didn’t interest me.

When was the moment you decided to make the change?    

I genuinely enjoyed having my own business. 

Still, I kept thinking that one day, perhaps during maternity leave, I would rethink my career and figure out what else I could do.

And when I thought that moment had finally come, life had different plans for me.

I reached my breaking point in 2022. I realised I didn’t want to postpone anything in my life anymore, and that’s when I made the decision to change careers.

How did you choose your new career?

It was a long journey. 

Before my pivot, I’d already defined my values, what I appreciate most at work. I’d identified my strengths and weaknesses. So I knew myself quite well.

I also enjoyed working with people and streamlining internal processes, something I had naturally done in my own business.

My husband suggested that the role of a Scrum Master might suit me. That was my starting point, but along the way I realised I should expand my search into project management roles as well, and that’s how I found my current role.

Are you happy with the change?  

Totally. 

I finally feel that work energises me. I really like what I’m doing now. I used to have the so-called Sunday Blues, the anxiety that arose on Sunday afternoons when I started thinking about Monday.

Now I’m genuinely excited about the upcoming week. That’s a huge change.

What do you miss and what don’t you miss?

I’d say I miss my clients. 

I really enjoyed working with them; being their advisor was a real privilege and taught me a lot about their industries and business approaches.

On the other hand, I absolutely do not miss the job itself. It’s been over two years since I closed my practice, and not for a single moment have I missed being a lawyer.

How did you go about making the shift?

I’m a project-management-driven person, so I started with a plan. 

I created a five-step approach:

. Orientation – understanding the industry and the role. I spoke to Scrum Masters to gain their perspective.

. Knowledge Base – I created a backlog of books, articles and podcasts and gathered all the information about the role.

. Planning – I built a plan, using the Scrum framework, to achieve my goal.

. Alliance – I looked for people who would cheer me on or share similar interests.

. Testing – sending out as many CVs as possible and attending interviews to get used to the process.

How did you develop (or transfer) the skills you needed for your new role?

During the orientation phase, I gathered information on what I needed to do to change my career. 

I made an inventory of my current skills, which helped me understand my gaps and what I could build on.

Then I chose one key area to start with, which was Google’s Project Management training. Then I also listened to podcasts and read books about the Scrum framework.

What didn’t go well? What wrong turns did you take?

My initial direction turned out to be the wrong one. 

During the testing phase, when I began submitting my CV and attending interviews, it turned out that the market was full of unemployed Scrum Masters due to recent layoffs.

I was competing with people with far more experience. This forced me to rethink my direction and adjust accordingly. That’s how I found my current role.

How did you handle your finances to make your shift possible?    

Spend less, save more. 

I knew that if I wanted to make this transition, I had to build some savings.

So I changed my spending habits to create a safe environment in which money wasn’t the biggest concern.

What was the most difficult thing about changing?

What help did you get?

I read a brilliant book, Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future, by Dorie Clark. 

She describes the process in a very hands-on way, and her guidance was extremely useful.

What have you learnt in the process?    

I’ve learnt that everything is achievable.

If I want to change something, I can do it; it’s just a matter of how long it takes. This experience gave me an extra boost of self-confidence and self-efficacy.

What do you wish you’d done differently?

I wouldn’t wait so long to change something that clearly wasn’t working. 

Since then, I’ve stopped postponing things, and I act much more quickly.

What would you advise others to do in the same situation? 

Take the first step. 

Once you take it, the process will begin to pull you in. The first step is the most important one.

I like to imagine how many years I have left until retirement, it helps me realise that, at 38, I can pivot several times in my life, and that’s perfectly fine.

Being satisfied in your professional life is worth any temporary struggle.

What resources would you recommend to others?

I would recommend two books that I found particularly inspiring.

The first one is the one I’ve already mentioned – Reinventing You by Dorie Clark.

The second is What You’re Really Meant to Do: A Road Map for Reaching Your Unique Potential by Robert Steven Kaplan.

To find out more about Edyta, visit https://medium.com/@kwiatkowska.ed/about

What lessons could you take from Edyta’s story to use in your own career change? Let us know in the comments below.