I work with a lot of career changers.

I hear the same thing from many of them:

“I took X course on Udemy.”

“I got certified in Y.”

“I’ve been reading tons of books on [New Industry].”

That is AWESOME!

It’s exactly what you should (and need to) do as a starting point.

But here’s the thing:

Anyone can take a course.

Anyone can read a book.

Anyone can get a certification.

Those things don’t *really* show a future employer how well you’ll be able to do a job.

They don’t differentiate you.

If you truly want to sell your abilities and make an impression?

You need to focus on one thing:

Turning the knowledge you get from those courses and books into real projects, real results, and real experience.

Want to work in marketing?

Start emailing businesses offering up your freelance services (or try a site like Upwork!).

Want to work in data analytics?

Find some public data on your target company / industry and use it to tell a story (maybe write a Medium post about it).

Anyone can go out and acquire knowledge.

Companies want to hire the person who can show they know how to use it.