Pivot Point: Recent Episodes
Robert Wong Tek Kong
This is Pivot Point. Thanks for joining, I’m Robert Wong and I am currently on a journey pivoting from an oil and gas engineer to… wherever life takes me. I wanted to document my journey as well as share valuable knowledge I learn along the way, for those who are also searching for their pivot point.
For this 12th episode, I share a conversation with Kat Connolly about her pivot into the tech industry as a software developer. Kat is a tech transition mentor and full time developer who has worked at a high growth start-up as well as a software boot camp as an instructor. In this discussion, she shares both the challenges and the successes she had during her pivot and the many lessons she learned the hard way. Learn important first steps to take as a junior developer, great advice on how to improve your skills and the importance of framing your failures to ensure success in this industry.
For this 11th episode, I share a conversation with Janet Segato about education and a mindset that can help people pivot easier. Janet is the Dean of the SAIT School of Business, which has become a top 100 school in the world according to CEOWORLD magazine. As someone in a highly successful position making positive changes in the lives of many people, she herself has gone through a career pivot. Through this conversation, Janet shares her thoughts on how we can all think about our career paths in a way that will make the career decisions we make and the goals we pursue easier.
For this 10th episode, I am reflecting back on 2021 as a season finale. Though I did quit my job in about November of 2019, I would say that I consider January 2020 to be the start of my pivot. Really, this means it's been about a year since I started my pivot point. This would be a good time to reflect on what I learned from those I interviewed, if I have any regrets, and my plans going forward.
For this 9th episode we interview the founders of Studio C&G, a Calgary-based creative agency specializing in UX/UI Design. Gabe and Christina are a married couple who have both successfully pivoted careers not only industry wise, but from employee to entrepreneur as well. Join me as we talk about their journey into entrepreneurship, the challenges they faced, the things they learned and the celebrations they had along the way.
For this 8th episode, we conclude the interview Mike Procee who is working on a startup that is focused on combining AI with corporate culture. We talk about the remaining myths of corporate culture. This includes how for the first time in history, you can measure your values in a very real way using natural-language programming.
For this 7th episode, I interview Mike Procee who is working on a startup that is focused on combining AI with corporate culture. His mission is to create companies that truly embody authenticity, humility, vulnerability, trust, familiarity, and feeling valued. In a companies structure. Mike started out as an engineer but is slowly pivoting into the technology sector, doing work he is truly passionate about.
For this second episode, I wanted to share a story that changed my whole perspective on free time and how I spend it.
For this first episode, I wanted to set a starting point. What led me to my pivot point, and where I currently am at. As you will hear, life didn’t go the way I had initially planned.
For this 6th episode, I am answering a question from a kind listener about the exact steps I took to pivot from my previous career to my new one. I talk about how I found time to teach myself the required skills, how I got work and what I learned from the experience. Though my journey is not yet over, my pivot has been successful so far and I want to share my thoughts on how I made it work.
In this episode I am going to be reflecting on a conversation I had with Rebecca Greenan. This is is actually the second part of a two part series, where in the first part I talked to Rebecca about her career pivot journey and really what she learned during this journey along with some advice for those following the same path.
In this second part, I talk to Rebecca about her experience working with start-ups, how they have been greatly changing the diversity in Alberta, and advice on how to enter this space. She shares some amazing wisdom that can be beneficial to anyone listening, whether or not they are looking at the start-up community.
In this episode reflect on a conversation with Rebecca Greenan. She has been a huge inspiration to me as someone who successfully pivoted careers, and through a 6 year long journey has changed the lives of many people while having life changing encounters herself.
This will be a two part series, as there was just so much good stuff I wanted to share with everyone. In this first part I want to highlight Rebecca's journey, while the second part will be about start-ups which she nurtures through her business.
For this third episode, I wanted to talk about the first software business I started and its inevitable downfall over the course of about 2 years. I will try to be as honest as I can, sharing my reflections as to what went wrong and what I have been doing better this second time around.