Meet the Polygamous Career Concept: A Personal Journey

In the last years of college, I realized that I needed to think more about my career. The most basic issue that puzzled me was which professional framework I would shape my life around. Although the framework drawn by my department and my interests had several common points, I did not feel fully connected to any discipline. Over time, I became convinced that the sectors in which I could apply the infrastructure I gained in my department were outside the standard patterns. However, my interests were so diverse that the thought of not being able to focus on all of them in the long term caused me to postpone the career planning process.

I must confess that even when I was just 2 months away from graduation, I didn’t have a career plan. I didn’t even have a CV, let alone a career plan.

Most of my friends in the department had already made a career plan. Some of them had received their credentials and started preparing for exams to become a teacher in their last year or had started meeting with private schools to become a teacher after graduation. On the other hand, I was caught in a cycle of constantly trying to explore new fields among endless options, trying to learn something from each of them, and struggling to decide which one would make me happier in the long run. Although it has been years since this process started, believe me, there’s still nothing that I can say “Yes, exactly this. This is what I can die for. I want to do this for the rest of my life.”

Another pressure I put on myself was to choose at least one or two areas of interest and make a plan to acquire skills beyond the basic level. Although it wasn’t very well-planned, I tried to do it. The only thing I was certain of was that regardless of my profession or the field I would specialize in, I wanted it to be multidisciplinary and technology-based, something that would shape the future in some way.

I can give specific examples. I took on many responsibilities as a business analyst in a software development team I was involved in, and I tried to improve myself in this area. I found some great areas to apply what I learned. On the other hand, I had a great interest in design. I had been involved in visual arts from an early age, and the people around me always supported me, saying that I had good taste and skill in this area. Although I never thought of making it my profession at that age, my interests pushed me to produce, learn, and develop my skills in this field. Furthermore, my interest in individual and social psychology and culture was always a major focus for me. The results of my personality analysis showed that my empathy side is very strong. I can analyze people’s emotions and behaviors well and can easily reflect this in my communication. Therefore, user experience-oriented areas such as software test engineering, UI, and UX have always been in my focus. I enjoyed working in these areas, especially since they are closely related to UI/UX design.

Believe me, I somehow touched dozens of areas that I can’t count. When I say it like that, it should not be perceived as if I have a lot of knowledge and experience. These studies, which started with a focus on curiosity, interest and pleasure, were large in themselves (for me) and small and medium-level in the sector.

So, what is my conclusion? The truth is, I don’t have a clear conclusion. The purpose of this article is not to show you a way to reach a clear conclusion. I can only advise anyone going through similar processes while I am struggling with these thoughts to re-evaluate the point they think they should reach. Our career plans, which are often seen as one of the critical steps of our life journey, may not necessarily have to reach a clear and definitive conclusion.

I would like to give a reference to explain this better. I was introduced to the concept of “Polygamous Careers” in an interview of Adobe’s chief product officer, Scott Belsky, recently. The interview was in the context of the biggest tech trends of 2022. But there was something else that attracted me in the introduction. What Belsky refers to as Polygamous Careers made me rethink the concerns I just mentioned and the different curiosities that persisted in me even though I started my professional life.

If you want to read it, you can find the interview link here.

Let me try to summarize the concept and the light it lit on me with a small quote.

Our brains, interests, and potential have never been single-threaded nor confined to a singular interest or skill. And yet, the traditional labor market since the industrial revolution has placed us in one job at a time — for years at a time. The entire system, from college recruiting and healthcare to LinkedIn profiles and annual tax forms, is geared for monogamous careers. I have come to believe two things, after a circuitous career as a founder, author, traditional VC, active angel, and product leader at a large company: I am most happy when my many interests and skills feel fully utilized — both professionally and personally, and in the modern hyper-networked world that gives us all broad exposure to fuel our many interests, fewer of us can be singularly defined. I firmly believe that professional fulfillment will increasingly be the result of feeling fully utilized.

In fact, the conclusion I have reached after years of thinking can be best summarized in this quotation. The only thing I can add to this is that I have realized that whatever I have accomplished or aimed for so far cannot be confined to a single discipline. The optimal result cannot be achieved without blending ideas from different fields of study and approaching them with an interdisciplinary vision.

Also, believe me, the steps you take for your career do not necessarily have to be in a specific subject. What matters are the milestones you achieve on this journey. Anything you experience, any conference you attend, any project you develop, or anyone you meet can serve as a milestone in this journey and shape your road in unexpected ways. Don’t shy away from it and realize that what you gain in your career journey shapes not only your profession but also your character as a unique individual.

A little note for those who continue reading:

As the cover image of the article, I chose the Guernica painting, one of the very famous Cubist paintings created by Pablo Picasso in 1937.

I met this painting when I was still in high school. Although the feelings it evoked in me are very different from the story of the painting, it coincided with my emotional and logical complexes. Maybe I could choose an art piece that can be figured out more clearly, like the Mona Lisa, idk :)

Then I came across a statement by Apollinaire, one of the famous critics of the time, about Cubism; “Cubism is not the art of picturing everything cubed as it is supposed to be”

Cubism creates a new vision that changes the view with a visual language. It brings a four-dimensional understanding by portraying an object, situation, or emotion from many angles. Cubists depict objects by showing them from various angles. I don’t know if it makes a connection with the concept of the Polygamous Career for you, but for me, Cubism is a meaningful visual representation of these complexities.