It was a real pleasure to speak to friend and career changer, Ludmila (Ludi) Fadejeva, for this month’s episode. For 8 years, Ludi was a Civil Engineer working on wet infrastructure projects in Europe and the Middle East. 12 years ago, Ludi made a brave career pivot into software sales. Today, Ludi is a Strategic Global Account Executive serving the UN ecosystem with a major SaaS (Sales as a Service) company.We hear how a chance comment from a colleague led to Ludi discovering a new career that she loves, and that suits her natural strengths and personality. Her journey is also a prime example of how you can slowly side-step away from one career into another by first working for a client or supplier in the same industry where you have valuable knowledge and credibility (engineering) but changing your skillset (to sales, in Ludi’s case). The key for Ludi was a past connection she had at a company where she’d seen a vacancy advertised. Ludi’s experience shows us the need for grit and perseverance when changing career, and the ability to sit through the initial years of discomfort when you’re new to a career. In Ludi’s case, the short term pain really has led to long term gain for her and her family.