Navigating the Non-Linear Career Path. Why Your Career Shouldn’t Follow a Straight Line
I’ve created many Medium blogs before and have done my best to share content that I believe is important surrounding the world of financial services, insurance, business and financial literacy. However, I recently had some time to reflect on my professional journey and I felt inspired to share my usual, yet unusual path I’ve taken.
Let me preface this by saying I didn’t study or have an emphasis in finance during my college years like kids today do. It kind of found me along the way thanks to my college rugby coach. Joseph Piszczor is my friend and mentor to date. Allow me to explain to the best of my ability my career path and journey. Strap in. your seatbelt, it’s a bumpy and wild ride.
May 10, 2024 marked 9 years since I graduated from Washington & Jefferson College with a BA in Economics and a minor in Business Administration. May 10, 2025 will mark 10 years since I’ve been out of college. It’s hard to believe and put into words that I’ve been in the “working world” and “corporate America” for almost a decade now. Wow! Does this mean I’m “old”?
In that time, I’ve experienced many opportunities, been a part of small-startups, left large established companies, pivoted in my career, was unemployed for 9 months during the height of the 2020 global pandemic, celebrated highs, cried during lows. I’ve experienced the following:
1. Fall of 2015 I moved to Philadelphia, PA to begin my first corporate job as a financial advisor and insurance professional for McAdam Financial in center city.
2. Summer of 2016 I left my position after a year and transitioned to MassMutual where a newer and smaller-office was opening on Walnut Street in Philadelphia. I made very little money my first two years in finance and insurance sales but I gained more knowledge and experiential learning than I did in four years of college from 2011–2015.
3. January 2017 I drove (never again) into Manhattan, NY to meet a well-established individual, industry professional, founder and CEO, Jerry Golden where we had lunch and he explained to me he was seeking an insurance professional to work for his company Golden Retirement. February 2017 I started working alongside him from Philadelphia as an Annuity Specialist. This mentorship from him, travel to and from New York for quarterly meetings, receiving a physical (pay)check from him in the mail every two weeks, and constantly learning and developing lasted for two years until the end 2018.
4. Roughly around November/December 2018 I needed a new challenge as I started working with a recruiting/staffing company that landed me a position as a copywriter physically working in Malvern, PA for Vanguard on a contract. Learning the ins and outs of marketing, communication, reading, writing, and creating (within guidelines) material for 401(k) plan participants and investors within the Institutional Investment Group (IIG) was mind-blowing. This contract lasted for seven months until May 2019 where it was not continued due to a “slow time” of the year.
5. May and June of 2019 I found myself back in New York City interviewing for another contract position for a NY fintech startup called Kindur/Silvur. I grinded away here again for four months learning and failing at Search Engine Optimization (SEO), content creation, creating content, reading, writing, copywriting and editing many blogs. My contract ended after four months in September 2019.
6. *Side bar, July 2019 I left the country for my first time to visit and travel abroad in Europe. For almost 2 weeks I traveled with my friend to Amsterdam, Mallorca, and Rome. Spain and Italy were my favorites. I’d go back in a heartbeat!
7. For months at the end of 2019 I needed to figure out what the hell I was going to do next. Sales both was and wasn’t in the cards for me. So naturally I found my way back to the insurance world. I interviewed with an Agent for a local State Farm office. Looking back on this I regret the decision that I made in a moment of panic and fear. Property and Casualty insurance was a never world for me after being on the life, accident and annuity side of the business. From November 2019 until February 2020 I made shit for money, worked a normal 8 hour day and didn’t really enjoy any of it. Fortunately for me, after a trip down to Miami, FL for a large business conference (non-work related), I came back to a flat tire that I had to fix on my car at the time and a phone call early in the morning letting me know that my services and time were no longer needed.
8. Early 2020 brought on some weird times being unemployed (for what ended up being 9 months), the Covid-19 Global Pandemic, moving out of an apartment with three of my friends, and moving into a new apartment with my girlfriend at the time in July 2020. I applied for quite literally hundreds and hundreds of jobs, interviewed, was ghosted, left unread, worked with and messaged so many recruiters and staffing people that I almost gave up. The key was that I did not even though I wanted to. The end of the year and December 2020 rolled around where I found myself back in the Defined Contribution and 401(k) world on yet again another contract. Some would call this a Christmas miracle. I know that I did at the time.
9. For almost a year and a half I grinded away once again in a new world of customer service and answered thousands of participants and peoples phone calls. I learned very quickly not to take anything personal over the phone and to truly have a heart of service helping individuals out on the other end of the phone. At the end of the day all they wanted access to was their hard-earned money. I helped them do just that as it related to Covid distributions, hardship withdrawals, 401(k) loans, and rollover requests to other financial institutions.
10. For the first-time ever working on a contract basis, my contract was converted into a full-time position with Vanguard’s strategic partner Infosys. This happened in February 2022. I started to transition off the phones full-time and started helping/coaching other retirement plan specialists around June 2022. I did this for another six months until November 2022 came around. I became tired of being over-worked and underpaid, and dreaded going back into an office as talks of return-to-office popped up. I needed to do something new. I needed to pivot once again in my career and make a change.
11. Thank goodness for LinkedIn, a recruiters message into my inbox and going through the interview process in November 2022. Monday, December 5, 2022 will be a day that I remember forever. It was my start day at Principal Financial Group and day number one in the Defined Benefit | Pensions world. It was here that I realized once again that financial services, insurance and working behind the scenes in an operations and Retirement Benefit Analyst role was the right career path for me. Also, I am so grateful and thankful for the ability to work full-time from home here in Philadelphia, PA for a Fortune 100 company based out of Des Moines, IA.
12. During all of these years, failures in an incredibly competitive industry, meeting people that are willing to help and teach me, but also working for and meeting people that are only in it for themselves and their families and the money taught/showed me so much about people, personalities, egos, fears, insecurities and more. Taking a step back, having self-awareness, kindness and taking steps outside of my comfort zone and pursuing new career opportunities is what this entire journey has been all about for me. I’ve learned a lot about myself — and what I seek and desire in an employer and business. I currently am in a job and position that I really love.
13. December 5, 2024 I’ll celebrate two years on the Defined Benefit team at Principal. My focus mainly remains on calculating pension payments, dealing with quotes, benefit events, annuity payouts, distributions, rollovers, audits and saying yes to as many opportunities as I can in order to continuously learn, grow and develop personally and professionally along my career path. DB plans are still a relatively new territory for me — but it requires familiar skill sets I’ve learned and developed throughout all these years of my career.
14. My biggest takeaway(s)? There’s no reason to try and “plan out” your career, much less your life. It’s going to evolve and grow along the way as you do too. Its not going to be a straight line or linear path. Its going to go up, down, left, right, side-to-side and like scribbles and squiggles on a piece of paper or chalk board from a toddler. Each and every time I was met with the unexpected and the unknown, it always worked itself out. And I believe today, I’m happier and more fulfilled than I ever thought I be. Professionally and personally. I believe 22-year old me would be incredibly happy, grateful and proud of 31-year old me. Cheers to another decade of twists and turns, plots and schemes, straight lines and straightaways and non-straight lines and dead-ends. I will continue to embrace every single moment. I can’t wait to see what’s in store next in 2025.
My Very Best,
Donovan Vogel
