8 People Who Changed Careers and Achieved Great Success

Whether you’re considering quitting your job to another one, exploring a new industry or restarting your career in a completely different field, a career change could be hugely rewarding, leading you to opportunities that allow you to grow exponentially and pursue your passions.

Here are 8 inspiring individuals who took the courageous step to achieve great successes.

1. Jeff Bezos: The Path of Least Regret

In 1994, Bezos read that the web had grown 2,300% in one year. Astounded by the figure, he wanted to take advantage of the rapid growth of the technology and decided that he should start with selling books online. Despite having a great job as a senior vice president at Wall Street hedge fund, Bezos decided to leave his then career to start a new venture.

This decision came as a shock to his boss, who took him for a 2-hour walk to persuade Bezos to stay. It was during this time that Bezos thoughtfully deliberated his choices with the regret minimisation framework, where he asked himself, ““Will I regret this not making the leap when I’m 80?” He arrived at the conclusion that he would rather attempt the ‘crazy idea’ and failing, than to not try at all. Thus, Amazon.com was founded.

2. Min-Liang Tan: Passionate, Tenacious, Competitive

Growing up, Tan spends most if not all of his leisure time playing video games. However, Tan’s parents told him and his sibling that they could only be one of two things:  a lawyer, or a doctor. Eventually, he stepped into the working world as an intellectual property lawyer in Singapore.

In 2005 – simply inspired by the thought of competing with other fellow gamers – Tan quit the legal profession and started Razer in San Diego with American gamer Robert Krakoff. His tagline for the company -- “for gamers, by gamers” – reflects the drive and tenacity lit by his passion for gaming, which also resonates with gamers around the world. Since launching the world’s first gaming mouse and Razer’s flagship product, the Boomslang mouse, Razer has grown to become a household name in the gaming community. Moreover, he is one of the Top 50 richest person in Singapore, with a net worth of $995M at the time of writing.

3. Sheryl Sandberg: From Washington DC to Silicon Valley

Best known for her tenure at Facebook as Chief Operations Officer (COO) and for her bestselling book ‘Lean In’, Sandberg has also accomplished the impressive feat of breaking into the tech industry with zero tech experience.

When she decided to make the pivot, Sandberg was working as chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. While she did not have any background in tech, she held her decision to leave politics and move to Silicon Valley in search for new pastures. Sandberg’s transition to Silicon Valley got off to a bumpy start, as she faced one rejection after another, due to her career background. However, that did not discourage her from following through with her decision. After 10 months, she got an offer from Google, where she helped build Google's AdWords and AdSense platforms. In 2008, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was poaching top talent from Google and hired Sheryl Sandberg as his COO.

4. Sabrina Tan: Using Old Skills in a New Career

As a working mother in a high-powered marketing job in the tech industry, Tan was always on a time crunch and needed a fuss-free skincare routine. That was when she founded Skin Inc, an award-winning skincare company that helped customer concoct effective, customised, convenient skincare solution.

Tan’s background in tech, entrepreneurial drive and business acumen honed in her previous career proved to be the key to bringing her new career with greater heights. Now as the founder and CEO of Skin Inc which has presence over 100 cities around the world, she has charted her own career path as a luminary in the skincare industry.

5. Gordon Ramsay: Kickstarted by an Injury

Ramsay hadn’t always dreamt of becoming one of the world’s most recognizable celebrity chefs. As a young man, Ramsay had always pictured his life as a professional footballer. He showed such promising talent on the pitch, that he was scouted by his favourite club at the age of 15. Alas, a knee injury prematurely cut short his sports career.

Following the turn of events, he went back to school and enrolled in a hotel management course. Despite starting anew, his fiery dedication and talent also shone in the culinary world. Upon graduating, he underwent several apprenticeships, training under some of the world’s leading chefs. He went on to receive prestigious awards, garner Michelin stars, and make TV appearances. This led him expand his business into restaurant groups, recipe publications, and even his own independent production company!

6. Edi Djau: Changing with The Times

Djau was working in a retail company, which relied heavily on the tourism sector. Thus, when circuit breaker was imposed in 2020, the company – which was considered non-essential – had to shut down. The then-35-year-old knew that it was time to transition into a new line of work.

After completing a diploma conversion course in computer networking at Singapore Polytechnic, he found a job as an IT helpdesk support staff in a systems integration company. Despite not having prior experience in IT, Diau’s new employers noticed his motivated disposition and nurtured his career growth. Today, he is a certified Azure solutions architect, helping the company in implementing cloud infrastructure for customers across sectors like retail, finance and more.

7. Jackson Wang: Pursuit of a Lifelong Dream

Hailing from a sports family, the Hong-Kong born was on the road to becoming an Olympian. His mother was a world champion gymnast, and his father is an Asian Game gold medallist in fencing. At 16, It’s no surprise when Wang became an Olympic-level sabre fencer with Hong Kong’s official junior fencing team at the age of 16. While preparing for the 2012 London Olympics, he was offered a scholarship to attend Stanford University!

In 2010, a representative of South Korean talent agency JYP Entertainment invited him to participate in the global auditions in Kowloon. Wang passed the audition, and the rest was history. Instead of going to an Ivy League university or the Olympics, he relocated to South Korea to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a performer. Wang realized that his passion was in singing and he didn’t want to have any regrets, despite his parents initially doubting his drastic career change.

After spending 2.5 years as a trainee at JYP, he stepped into his career as part of K-pop boy band GOT7. Since then, he has gone on to start his own record label Team Wang and built a wildly successful solo career with chart-topping tracks and successful world tours.

8. Pooja Devi: Finding Passion by Chance

Pooja dipped her toes into the working world in a marketing internship at Kiss92. Her time in the marketing stint was fruitful and enjoyable, as she got to have a hand at a wide scope of work – in fact, she loved her job! However, upon deeper introspection, she realized that she only liked her job because of the wonderful work environment and colleagues and not the job itself. Thus, when her internship ended, she left the gig clueless and with a thinning bank account.

By chance, Pooja came across an opportunity to work as a pre-school teacher and took the job out of sheer desperation. There, she met two children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The experience inspired her to specialize at teaching special needs children. She’s since fallen in love with her teaching career and plans to stay in it for the long haul!

The stories of these inspiring individuals demonstrate that changing careers helped them achieve a fulfilling, meaningful career, regardless of circumstances. While the journey of changing careers may be arduous, we have seen how these people have grown to excel in their new careers.

On top of having a growth mindset that lends strength to resilience and joy, one should also be armed with a career change action plan that’s been well thought out with all risks considered. You can read more about it here

You have the power to craft and shape the career that you want. These days, you could even find work from home jobs and not be bound by geographical limits! When we approach our career paths with an open mind and a practical approach, a world of possibilities opens to us.

If you need career advice or want to learn the ins and outs of the job market, visit JobStreet’s Career Advice page here. Check out insights, career tools and expert advice as you explore career options that match your interests and skills.