How to become an IRONMAN?

Just before we start, I want to say thank you to all 73 subscribers, who joined this newsletter in 2024. This is the last episode in 2024, as I want to take a break and take time to think about what to do next. Anyway, I’m wishing all of you a good and wonderful Christmas time ahead as well as the coming New Year! 🍾

Let’s go…

When I started this newsletter, my main focus was on tech, startups, and everything related to the industry. However, I feel that I’m in a position where I can experiment and share some personal stories — ones that might inspire you today or in the future.

The description of my newsletter says:

Receive case studies, the latest trends, and vital stories from the sports industry.

Today, I’d like to share my personal story about how I first broke into the sports industry and joined IRONMAN at the beginning of 2019. I believe this experience might help you see your job search from a new perspective and understand that sometimes playing the long game can pay off in the most unexpected moments of your life.

I wrote this post almost 1 year ago in January 2024.

Recently I’ve talk with one of my friend who is currently building Amy - career coaching platform with a goal to maximize human potential.

During our chat, I realized something important: when you're on a job hunting, it’s often hard to find real guides, stories, or practical examples of how people successfully join the companies they aspire to work for.

This makes sense because once someone lands their dream job, they typically move on and don’t focus on sharing their journey. But I believe this could be an incredibly valuable resource if more people took the time to document and share their experiences.

That conversation inspired me to reflect on my own journey and finally share my story.

I honestly hope this read might help a lot of people. You can always help to spread this with:

• Comment 💭

• Like 👍

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What to expect today? 🤔

• My story about the IRONMAN

• How to evaluate your starting point

• Imposter Syndrome

The story behind it 🥁

To begin any journey, it's crucial to pinpoint your current starting point and your desired destination. Think of this as an assessment, a necessary step that requires an open and honest discussion with yourself about where you are right now and where would you like to go.

Why is this important? It provides the foundation for building your strategy. As I aim to make this post more practical, I'll start by sharing my own journey. Through my story, you'll see how to self-assess, identify your current skill set, and discover how your abilities can be applied to new opportunities.

In 2016, I started my career as a Customer Support Representative at Teleperformance. It was a breath of fresh air after a challenging period in my life. My role involved supporting iOS and macOS users, and from day one, I felt complete satisfaction. It was a completely new experience for me, and I quickly realized I had a knack for adapting to new environments and resolving customer issues. While the job had its tough moments, I spent the first 1.5 years with joy and didn’t think much about the future.

Eventually, I realized there was no clear career path for me at the company. This prompted me to make a tough decision: to transition into a completely new field.

To provide some context, I’ve been passionate about sports since I was 12 years old. It’s more than a hobby for me — it’s a way of life, training, events, and the technology behind them. When I asked myself what I truly wanted, the answer was clear:

I wanted to work in the sports industry.

One of my biggest dreams? Joining IRONMAN.

Back in the day, there wasn’t any logical reason why I wanted to do this.

• I didn’t do triathlon.

• I didn’t work in the sports field at all.

I remember that it became an obsession for me. I liked the brand, the impact, and of course, the events themselves. At the same time, I discovered Rich Roll and read his book Finding Ultra, where he shared his experience.

Honestly, I think this book influenced me so much, and I realized that this obsession should become a reality.

IRONMAN VICHY, August 2019.

So, I visited their website to explore opportunities, and I found some. But there were significant obstacles:

• Most positions required fluency in German.

• They also required several years of experience in marketing and project management — an experience I didn’t have.

At the time, I was 27 years old. Was it too late for a career change? Could I transition into an entirely new industry without prior experience?

Then came the self-doubt.

• How will you transition from customer support into the sports industry?

• Have you seen the number of applicants for these positions?

• Why would they hire you?

• You don’t have marketing experience or the other skills they need.

Sound familiar?

Fighting self-doubt 🥊

So, how do you deal with these thoughts? Looking back, I’d say this: ignore them. If you’re serious about making a change, just start. Create a plan, but don’t overthink.

Remember this:

Personality matters more than skills.

Alternatives are always an option.

For instance, internships are a great way to get started. At 27, pursuing an internship wasn’t an obvious choice for me. Most are unpaid, and there’s no guarantee of a full-time job.

To make this story more interesting — I didn’t even get the internship on my first try.

Key Lesson:

It might take time.

My story about joining the IRONMAN 🚴‍♂️

My journey timeline:

1. June 2018: I applied for a Marketing Coordinator internship.

2. 13.06.2018: I received a rejection.

3. I decided to ask for feedback: What skills do I need to improve, and what actions should I take?

   • Their advice: "Volunteer at a few races to get a better understanding of the IRONMAN culture."

4. July 2018: I volunteered at IRONMAN Hamburg.

5. 12.12.2018: I received an email.

What?😅 I’m like, what? My pulse was higher than my threshold.

I still had a strong desire to join. For some people, landing a good job opportunity might seem like just another milestone, but everyone experiences these moments differently.

Don't allow yourself to underestimate your achievements.

I had two interviews and genuinely enjoyable conversations. I wasn’t 100% certain about receiving an offer, but eventually, I was offered an internship as a Marketing Coordinator. I didn’t hesitate to accept, but back then, I didn’t know how we’d manage if my wife couldn’t secure a full-time job nearby by March 1, 2019. It might seem like I was lucky, but I wasn’t. Before luck played its part, I took action and challenged myself. Perhaps that made all the difference.

If you scroll through any social network, it might seem like everyone else is productive, successful, and always achieving great things. Sometimes that’s true, but often it’s not. Always remember:

• You don’t need to stick to the role model in social networks.

• Set your own pace. Start slow if needed, then sprint when ready.

• While we all want quick results, career transitions are more like running a marathon than a sprint.

The key takeaway from this story is that there’s no universal formula for finding a job. In my case, I had customer experience skills but no prior background in marketing. Between my rejection in June and the offer in December, I didn’t enroll in a marketing boot camp or take any formal courses. Why? Simply because I hadn’t considered it, and no one suggested it to me. There was no magic shortcut — I focused on leveraging my existing skills and finding ways to bring that expertise into a new field.

Let me share another story to illustrate this point. My wife successfully transitioned into a job in Germany as a Junior Graphic Designer. After being rejected by one company, she decided to explore the area using Google Maps. She found a digital agency nearby. After visiting their website and finding an open position, she applied — and she got the job.

Not your typical job search strategy, right? It doesn’t mean you have to jump out of your comfort zone, but sometimes viewing your options from a different perspective can have surprising results.

Sometimes we focus too much on what we lack instead of valuing what we already have.

IRONMAN Emilia-Romagna, September 2019

Exercise ✅

Now, let’s do a brief self-assessment of my skills before I applied to IRONMAN:

• Education: I hold a bachelor's degree in Canoe Rowing Coaching from the National University of Physical Education and Sports of Ukraine. (In the EU, this qualification wasn’t highly regarded.)

• Experience: I have 1.5 years of experience in Customer Success.

• Passion: I was — and still am — an addicted amateur athlete.

I didn’t have a clear plan or specific goals. I wasn’t concerned about the exact job title or role I’d pursue. My main goal was to transition into the sports industry, and IRONMAN was the company I dreamed of working for, purely based on personal passion and interest.

How can we transform your experience and identify your hard skills?

1. Negotiator
   Negotiation is a vital skill for any role. If you can communicate effectively, analyze situations, and make decisions based on customer feedback, you bring an essential and transferable capability to any job.

2. Work under pressure
   Anyone who has worked in customer support knows how demanding it can be. Staying calm throughout a hectic day requires impressive mental resilience. Whether in B2C or B2B, talking to people all day and simplifying technical issues into understandable language prepares you to be a valuable team player in any organization.

3. Technical skills
   I already had solid knowledge of Apple devices and learned how to ask the right questions to gather the information needed to help customers. This experience showed me that I can adapt quickly to technical topics and gave me the confidence to learn and grow in a new industry.

4. Sport as a hobby
   I’ve been training since I was 12 years old and, at the time, was preparing for my half-marathon. This gave me an understanding of running and triathlon, which are both key to the culture of a company like IRONMAN. Importantly, this wasn’t something I pursued just for a job — it’s a lifestyle I’m passionate about.

5. Marketing
   How can you translate your existing skills into marketing? Over time, I realized the strong connection between customer success and marketing. Analyzing customer feedback, reporting bugs, and consolidating insights into actionable reports can provide valuable information about a product or service. Even without formal experience, you can independently collect feedback, create reports, and present them to management. If you take this further by proposing UX improvements or ideas to enhance the customer journey, you can confidently claim skills in areas like market research, UX improvement, marketing funnel optimization, and concept creation. It’s possible to extract valuable marketing-related skills from almost any profession.

6. Project management
   Most roles require some degree of project management skills. Working with knowledge bases, tracking issues and feedback, and collaborating with stakeholders all demonstrate your ability to manage projects. Even basic project management experience counts.

7. Other hobbies
   If you have hobbies like design, cooking, sports, or music, they can also work to your advantage. Sharing links to personal projects, portfolios, or blogs can showcase your creativity and individuality, adding valuable points to your profile.

❗️Remember: Companies aren’t looking for robots — they’re looking for people.

Next Steps:
Go through this list and write down as many skills as you currently possess in your role.

The role I want to transit was: Project Marketing Coordinator

What else can you do?
Take the job description and, in the first column, list the required skills. Then align them with the skills you already have or could potentially develop.

I want to emphasize that your situation is unique, and only you can evaluate your starting point.

Let me share my personal experience to illustrate this:

1. I wasn’t fired before starting the internship. I had time to prepare and save money for the relocation I needed.

2. The internship was paid — 1,500 euros brutto at that time.

3. My wife secured a full-time job. Even in the worst-case scenario, we would have had an income.

4. We didn’t have kids or other responsibilities adding pressure to our situation.

As I’ve said, every situation is unique. My best advice is: don’t burn bridges at your current job unless absolutely necessary. If you’re planning to transition into a new role but still have a job, that’s a strong position to be in.

I understand that sometimes a toxic work environment can harm your mental health, and leaving might be the best choice. But if you’re in a situation where you have a stable income that allows you to invest in your career transition while maintaining a comfortable standard of living, take that route.

This approach reduces stress and allows you to prepare for your next step while keeping your daily life.

Job transitions shouldn’t lead to burnout — they should be an opportunity for growth.

Imposter Syndrome 🙋‍♂️

Six months later, I received a full-time job offer. I was genuinely shocked. This was what I had always wanted: my dream job. I remember this day even now. We had breakfast in Italy at one of the weekend events. I was asked if I would like to join a company as a full-time employee. What could be better? I was enjoying my time at IRONMAN, traveling to events, working with athletes, and contributing to processes. It was everything I had envisioned. My focus was on improving workflows, pushing myself to grow, and developing both professionally and personally.

In the meantime, my wife gave birth, and the COVID10 pandemic hit. By 2020, all races were canceled. At the start of 2021, I began overthinking my career and questioning my current role. I wondered if I should pivot back to something in the technical field or IT, even though I loved what I was doing. Don’t ask me why—I still don’t have an answer.

At the time, a friend of mine was working at Dell as a customer representative and offered to refer me. I decided to give it a shot and applied. Reflecting on my experience at Teleperformance, I thought the role would align better with my skills.

I succeeded in landing the job. I was offered a position as an Enterprise Technical Engineer at Dell. I knew it would require learning a lot of new things and adapting to a completely different environment. But deep down, my gut told me otherwise. It didn’t feel right.

If I’m being honest, it was the wrong decision in many ways.

Why did this happen?

After almost two years at IRONMAN, I didn’t believe in myself. The issue wasn’t with the company or the people. I had an absolutely great team, and most of them are still working there. The problem was that I wasn’t being honest with myself.

I thought my English wasn’t good enough. I tried to improve, but I didn’t see the results. Yes, I felt uncomfortable. How would I see this situation now? If you can do your work, your level is enough. You can always improve it if you want.

I want you to see the difference in thinking. The situation is the same, but how you evaluate it is different. Please, don’t play these mind games too much. I would be happy if you can avoid this mistake. Try to see your situation from different angles and ask yourself open questions.

My second mistake was in marketing. I mostly did coordination work, but I didn’t have enough knowledge in the field. I don’t know why I didn’t take a bootcamp or a course on project management, just to give myself a little more confidence.

I wasn’t 100% honest with myself.

Be honest with yourself. It will pay off.

I just want to say, if you’re strugling something like this now, please, try to talk to somebody first. 😉

Wrapping up 🍣

Only through the years, I’ve realized that at least I’ve done something really special for myself.

• I’ve landed my dream job.

• I didn’t give up and I was rejected after the first attempt.

• I've worked in the biggest triathlon corporation.

First of all, I would like to say thank you to everyone who was part of this journey. It was an absolute pleasure to work with all of you.

Second, maybe now it will be a little bit better to understand why I was weird sometimes. 😅

Nevertheless, this post is not about me. It’s just a story for you if you're struggling or thinking that you’re not deserve something. Anything is possible. This is what I remembered forever.

I hope that this read will help you to believe in yourself, and trust your inner voice.

Cheers,
Taras