The hardest part of a career change is not the risk, it is the ego. Rafael held a senior role at one of Ecuador’s top media companies and chose to become an intern in another country. Giving up the status you built, not finding the motivation, is the real barrier most professionals never cross.
You never start from zero, you start from somewhere else. Architecture gave him discipline and iterative thinking, media gave him a decade of commercial instinct, and both traveled with him into fintech. A career switch is a ladder, not a blank slate, and taking inventory of your transferable tools is the first step.
Chasing passion is naive; chase daily satisfaction instead. A career is still a job most days. Rafael argues the better question is what gives you satisfaction in the day to day, because fulfillment arrives in pockets that must outweigh the hard work, not replace it.
