Reorienting her career is something Annabel experienced very early on. Not having obtained her diploma as a school teacher, she will choose another path at 26 to be a webmaster. For 20 years, she joined various groups, small or large, and the stages of her career there were punctuated by various professional changes: she worked in programming, moved towards web project management, until to become manager of a team of 7 people. After these different professional stages, between 2015 and 2016, she took a sabbatical because the job of project manager no longer interested her.
What did the break bring you on a personal level?
I needed to ask myself professional questions to know if I still wanted to continue or not. And following this break, I finally joined a company, still in digital.
When did you want to make a professional change and find another path?
In 2019, I wanted to leave the company I worked for. For professional reasons, I don't want to talk about it. I also wanted to get away from the world of screens, stop solving problems that aren't always very interesting, find more human relationships. And the gap between my ecological convictions and what I was doing was becoming more and more important.
To start a new career, how did you go about it?
To retrain, I learned social innovation and Design Thinking in a training organization, and I discovered the symbiotic economy there. I also took training in circular economy, then I decided to be self-employed in a cooperative called Coopaname, which has allowed me to test my activity since May 2021.
"It's when you face reality that you realize it's no big deal."
Doing a professional retraining at 46, did that scare you?
No, I felt pretty free. I have experienced different work situations: CDD, CDI, independent and I think that has helped me a lot. I took a risk because I had bought an apartment 1 year before, but my luck was to be able to leave with a contractual termination and a departure bonus. And then when you are unemployed you realize that you can live with the essentials, that a lot of expenses are useless and that is when you start to let go. It's when you face reality that you realize it's not a big deal.
For further
👉16 steps for your professional transition
👉 There is no age to start: make a professional retraining at 35, 40, 50
👉 Tools for a better self-understanding : Ikigai, MBTI test
Take action
👉 Training in the professions of ecological and social transition