The biggest thing I have learned so far is that the hardest part is almost always just taking the first step. Not being perfectly qualified. Not having it figured out. Just starting, before you feel ready.
I did not come to this easily. During my university days, I kept changing my mind about what I wanted to do. I went from Business Administration to Information Systems to Computer Science, and I did a few software engineering internships along the way, picking up skills without really knowing where any of it was going. Eventually I did what you are supposed to do and got the job: full-stack developer at an established firm. On paper it was everything I had worked towards. But once I was in it, I realised it was not something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life.
So I left, and I took a bet that did not make much sense to anyone on the outside. I moved into sales and business development at a startup, with no background in either. No sales experience. No business training. I had spent years learning to write code, and suddenly I was doing cold outreach, sitting in meetings, and trying to close deals, with none of the things people normally have when they start. Nothing was guaranteed. I was just backing myself to figure it out.
It was uncomfortable, and for a while I honestly did not know if I had made a mistake. But slowly things started to move. I closed my first deal, then a few more. I started forming partnerships and sitting across from founders and business owners, holding my own. I began helping to grow the team at Automateforce AI, bringing in people to something I was not even sure I belonged in a year before.
