Alena was working in sales when she realized that she was doing the wrong thing because her work did not bring her any pleasure or income. A year later Alena became a project manager in IT. In this article Alyona shares her story of how she did it.

My career path was interesting: I am a doctor by profession, I understood soon that I was interested in business processes and people management.

I worked for a few different companies and I realized once again that I was in the wrong business because my work did not give me the satisfaction or the income that I wanted. At the same time, I noticed that in all jobs I was still attracted to organization, problem solving, and process management.

My ex-boyfriend kept telling me, "go into project management!" You're responsible and organized, you can negotiate with anyone. But I doubted myself: Am I a manager? Am I good at it?

Then I decided to try to talk to a coach, to get a disinterested look from the outside, to dig out my strengths, to lean on them and go forward.

We met with Marina and realized that project management is the right direction. All that was left to do was to find a job and everything would work out, and it did!

I was looking for an internship for the position of project manager and saw a vacancy in the company Qsoft. Its niche is high-tech projects with complex integrations. This is the first in Eastern Europe digital-integrator with the expertise in A.I. and Machine Learning.

I had a 2-week internship at the company and out of 7 participants they chose me and one more guy for some reason! I got straight into one of the biggest projects at the company as a novice project manager. Now, a year later, I am already leading a project on my own and managing a team. I think I was very lucky, because it is not that easy to enter the profession as a project manager. Many people start out as testers or project administrators.

Yes, I feel that this is my thing. I get charged by people, implementing a project with a good team is cool and I am happy, despite the fact that the work is not easy and causes huge daily stress and eye twitching :)

My plans for the future are ambitious: I want to become a top manager, be in charge of the company, develop the business, and eventually open my own. Right now I'm thinking about moving to a bigger company to continue to grow in people management.

I think the most important thing is desire and luck. If there is a strong request inside, the opportunity will come. It is always scary to leave the familiar, so my advice is to switch off your emotions, have patience, support, a financial cushion, and try. Try as many times as it takes. You can learn absolutely everything, the main thing is to do what you really like. Whether it's cross-stitching or running a company.

1. To take a step forward, sometimes you have to take one step back first. An internship is a great opportunity to begin your journey in a new profession.

2.It is normal to doubt whether you have chosen the right vector in your profession! If you have doubts, it doesn't mean you're not on the right track. Get support and try it out. In the process, everything will fall into place.