You Don’t Have to Have It All Figured Out: 5 Career Lessons from Boomie Odumade
One of the quiet pressures early in a career is the feeling that you’re supposed to know exactly where you’re going.
What role you want.
What field you’ll stay in.
What the next five years should look like.
During our recent LinkedIn Live conversation, AdaMarie Expert Boomie Odumade joined Nancy Fallon to talk honestly about something many professionals experience but rarely say out loud: it’s okay not to know what’s next. Because careers evolve through curiosity, experimentation, mistakes, and the people who help guide us along the way.
Here are a few takeaways from the conversation.
1. No matter how senior you become, mentorship still matters
One of Boomie’s strongest reminders was that mentorship isn’t just something you need early in your career. Even as responsibilities grow and experience deepens, having people who challenge your thinking, offer perspective, and share their own lessons continues to matter.
Mentors help you see possibilities you might miss on your own. They also remind you that many of the challenges you’re navigating are not unique to you.
2. Curiosity will take you further than certainty
It’s easy to think confidence comes from having the answers. But in reality, many successful careers are built by people who stay curious long after they’ve achieved success.
Curiosity keeps you open to learning, exploring new opportunities, and asking better questions about what you want next. Instead of feeling pressure to have everything mapped out, curiosity allows you to keep moving forward while discovering what fits along the way.
3. Flexibility is a skill you can practice
We often think of flexibility as something you either have or don’t. Boomie reframed it as something you can actively practice.
When you develop the ability to adapt to career shifts, uncertainty begins to feel less overwhelming. Flexibility creates space for calm, and it also creates space for kindness toward yourself when things don’t go exactly as planned.
4. It’s okay not to know what’s next
One of the most reassuring moments in the conversation came when Boomie spoke about career planning.
We’re often taught that success requires a perfectly mapped-out plan. But plans tend to assume a straight line, and most careers are anything but linear. Especially early in your career, it’s normal for your direction to evolve as you gain new experiences and learn more about what excites you.
Not knowing exactly what’s next often means you’re still exploring what’s possible.
5. Mistakes are part of the learning process
Perhaps the most important reminder of the conversation was about mistakes.
It’s easy to treat mistakes as evidence that something has gone terribly wrong. But in reality, mistakes are often the moments where the most meaningful learning happens. Boomie encouraged the audience not to let mistakes feel fatal.
They are rarely the end of a story. More often, they’re the beginning of understanding something new.
If there was one theme that ran through the conversation, it was this…
Careers are built by staying curious, learning from experience, and continuing to move forward even when the next step isn’t perfectly clear. Sometimes, the most important realization is simply that you don’t need to have everything figured out yet.
This recap only captures a few highlights from the discussion. Members of the AdaMarie Professional Network (APN) can catch the full replay inside the video library to hear Boomie’s reflections on mentorship, curiosity, and navigating career uncertainty in more depth.
And if you’d like to continue learning from her perspective, follow Boomie Odumade on LinkedIn, where she regularly shares insights on leadership, growth, and building a career with intention.
About Boomie Odumade
Boomie Odumade is a software engineering leader, founder, and fractional VP of Engineering and CTO at TechBees. She brings a unique perspective shaped by both deep technical expertise and leadership experience across the tech industry.
Her path into technology began with a degree in mechanical engineering, followed by a master’s in computer science and an MBA from Wharton — and since then she’s worked across engineering and leadership roles while helping teams and individuals navigate growth in the tech space. Alongside her work in industry, Boomie is deeply committed to mentorship and supporting the next generation of STEM professionals through speaking, writing, and youth-focused organizations.
