Key points
- In US data from 1994 to 2008, people who started a business while keeping their paid job faced about a 33% lower risk of the business closing than people who quit first to start one (Raffiee and Feng, 2014).
- In Mark Granovetter's study of Boston-area professionals who found a job through a contact, about 83% had seen that contact only occasionally or rarely (Granovetter, 1973). Those acquaintances are easier to meet while you still work.
- Among Americans who quit a job in 2021 and found another, 53% changed field or occupation (Pew, 2022).
- Americans born 1957 to 1964 held 12.9 jobs on average between ages 18 and 58 (BLS, 2025), so a planned move is a normal part of a working life.
Diego's spreadsheet
Diego is 34 and plans deliveries for a chain of hardware stores. He is good at it. The part of his week he likes best is Friday afternoon, when he digs into the delivery data and finds the one route that keeps running late, and why.
He has started to wonder if that Friday hour could be the whole job. Data analysis pays well where he lives, and his company has a small analytics team two floors up. But he has a mortgage and a daughter in school, and quitting to study for a year feels like jumping into a river to see if he can swim.
Diego isn't a real person, but his situation is one of the most common in a career change: a clear pull toward new work, and a salary he can't drop. Here is how people in his spot tend to make the move, and what Diego did.
Why keeping your job tends to work better
lower risk of the new business closing for people who started it while still employed, compared with those who quit first.
Raffiee and Feng, 2014people who found a job through a contact had seen that person only occasionally or rarely. Small study, durable idea.
Granovetter, 1973Researchers call it job crafting: changing your tasks, who you work with and how you see the work, inside your current role.
Wrzesniewski and Dutton, 2001A salary buys you time to learn. The goal is not to stay forever, but to make the jump only once you've crossed half the river already.
The study of business founders is not about career changers, and the people who chose the slower path may differ from those who quit. But the lesson carries over: income while you learn lowers the cost of every mistake. If you're still deciding whether to switch, start with should I change careers? first.
Four routes that keep your salary
Pick the route that fits your situation. Most people combine two.
Route Internal move
What it looks like
Transfer to another team in your company. Start by helping that team on one project, without changing your title.
Best when
Your employer already has the work you want. Many companies post roles inside before outside, so find out how yours does it.
Route Bridge role
What it looks like
A job that mixes your old field and the new one. A nurse becomes the clinical expert on a software team; an accountant takes a finance analytics role.
Best when
The new field needs to see your record as relevant before it hires you.
Route Side project
What it looks like
Paid work for one or two clients, a few hours a week, with one clear deliverable.
Best when
The new work can be done in small pieces, outside your working hours.
Route Study with a deliverable
What it looks like
A course that ends in a real portfolio piece, not just a certificate.
Best when
The new field asks for proof of a skill before anything else.
Before any side work, read your contract
Check your employment contract for rules on outside work, intellectual property and non-competes. Keep the side work off company time, company laptops and company clients. If your contract requires you to disclose outside work, disclose it. Rules differ by country and state, so when in doubt, ask an employment lawyer.
The method: build the new career beside the old one
Organizational researcher Herminia Ibarra found that people who change careers well tend to learn by trying, not by planning everything first (Ibarra). The same five steps from our guide on changing careers at 40, adapted for someone who keeps their job the whole way.
1. Name what you're moving toward
"Work closer to product" or "analyze data full time" is a direction you can test. "Something else" is not.
Diego: "The Friday hour, five days a week."
2. Find your bridge inside
Ask the team that does the work if you can help on one project. Job crafting starts here: add the new tasks to the job you already have.
Diego: he offered to build a late-delivery report with the analytics team.
3. Meet the acquaintances
Talk to five people who do the job. They don't need to be friends; a former colleague or a friend of a friend is often more useful.
Diego: coffee with two analysts at work and three people from an old logistics course.
4. Get paid once
Do one small paid piece of the new work, on your own time, inside your contract's rules. A paying client is the strongest test there is.
Diego: a weekend sales dashboard for a family-run bakery.
5. Set your money number and date
Work out how many months your savings cover (below), then pick a decision date three to six months out.
Diego: four months of savings, and a decision on 30 June.
Build a money runway
Work out a number, not a feeling.
- Add up your fixed monthly costs: rent or mortgage, debt payments, insurance, food, school.
- Estimate the monthly gap: your fixed costs minus your likely take-home pay at entry level in the new field. Ask the people from step 3 for real numbers.
- Divide your savings by that gap. That's your runway in months.
- Decide your floor: the lowest number of months you'll accept before you move, and stick to it.
If the runway is short, widen the side income first, or move through a bridge role that pays closer to what you earn now. An internal move often needs no runway at all.
Your money number
How long can you carry lower income? Change the numbers; nothing leaves this page.
The route lengths come from our guide on changing careers at 40, where each one is sourced.
Should you tell your manager?
It depends on the route.
| Route | Tell your manager? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Internal move | Yes, usually early | Most internal transfers need your manager's support, and a good manager would rather keep you in the company. |
| Bridge role at another company | Usually not until you have an offer | Nothing to discuss until it's real. |
| Side project | Follow your contract | If it requires disclosure, disclose. If not, keep the work fully separate. |
When you do tell your manager, talk about what you're moving toward ("I want to work closer to the data"), not about what you want to leave. It's a request for help, not a complaint.
How your type tends to make the move
Each of Tipolu's five types tends to walk this path in its own way. These are tendencies, not rules.
Peak
Tends to want a fast jump.
Watch: give that energy a side project with a deadline, so it has a safe place to go.
You leaned this way in the crossroads below.
Horizon
May start three experiments at once.
Watch: pick one and finish it before you start the next.
You leaned this way in the crossroads below.
Campfire
Builds a network easily.
Watch: use it to find the bridge role; your acquaintances are your best leads.
You leaned this way in the crossroads below.
River
Tends to prefer a slow, steady shift.
Watch: a bridge role suits that pace. Set a decision date so it doesn't drift.
You leaned this way in the crossroads below.
Root
Runs the runway math well.
Watch: set a date to act on the number, too.
You leaned this way in the crossroads below.
If Diego took the test
Rootwith a Horizon accentA Root with a Horizon accent fits Diego's story: he wanted the new field, but he wanted the numbers to work first. An internal project plus one paid side job let him test both. A Peak in the same spot might have handed in notice after the first good coffee. Same goal, different best route.
Diego's scores are made up to show what a result looks like.
Lu's tip: Before you start any side work, read your contract once, start to finish. It takes ten minutes and saves you the worst kind of surprise.
Questions people ask
How long does a career change take while employed?
It varies with the route. An internal move can take a few months; retraining for a licensed field can take years. Many people plan in stages over a year or more, with a check every three months so they can see progress.
Can I change careers without going back to school?
Often, yes. Many fields care more about proof of work than a new degree. A short course with a real project and one paid client can be enough to open the door. Licensed fields such as nursing, law or teaching are the exception.
Will my employer find out?
If you move internally, they should, because they're part of it. For outside work, follow your contract, keep it off company time and equipment, and disclose it if the contract says so.
Is a side project a conflict of interest?
It can be, if it competes with your employer, uses their clients or uses what you built on their time. Pick side work that doesn't overlap with your employer's business, and check the contract first.
What is a bridge role?
A job halfway between your old field and the new one, where your past experience is the reason you're hired. You bring what you know and learn the new field on the job, usually without a big pay cut.
When should I actually quit?
When the new work has paid you at least once, you know your runway in months, and it's above the floor you set. If all three are true on your decision date, you're no longer jumping; you're stepping across.
Can a personality test tell me which route to take?
No test can choose for you. A good one describes how you tend to work, which can help you pick the route you're most likely to finish. Use it next to your finances and what you learn from your experiments.
Sources
- Raffiee, J., and Feng, J. (2014). Should I quit my day job? A hybrid path to entrepreneurship. Academy of Management Journal, 57(4).
- Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6).
- Wrzesniewski, A., and Dutton, J. E. (2001). Crafting a job: Revisioning employees as active crafters of their work. Academy of Management Review, 26(2).
- Pew Research Center (2022). Majority of workers who quit a job in 2021 cite low pay, no opportunities for advancement, feeling disrespected.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Number of Jobs, Labor Market Experience, Marital Status, and Health: Results from a National Longitudinal Survey", NLSY79, August 2025 release.
- Ibarra, H. (2003). Working Identity. Harvard Business School Press. See also How to stay stuck in the wrong career, HBR, 2002.
You walk a trail instead of filling a form
Tipolu is a short 3D walk. At each crossroads you pick the path you'd really take, and the companion walking with you at the end shows who you are.
12 to 20 crossroadsEveryday choices on a trail, like a market, a lake, a broken well.
Two campfire questionsShort open answers in your own words.
Your mix, not a boxA main type, an accent, and 0 to 100 scores on five traits, with a report that includes work.
Try three crossroads from the real walk
Pick the path you would really take. No right answers.
At a forest inn, a trader offers you a share in her business if you can start right away.
The bridge ahead is broken. You have rope, planks and a few hours of daylight.
Your group camps at the crossing for the night. An old map shows a hermit's hut upriver.
Three forks are a guess. The full walk uses 12 to 20 of them plus two campfire questions, and shows your main type, your accent and what that means for work.
Play the free test · 5 minWhich one is walking with you?
Find out how you tend to work before you pick your next path. A short walk, 12 to 20 crossroads, and a report that includes work.
Play the free testAbout 5 minutes · no signup · free