Why your career needs a map, not a ladder | Meryem Ben Elajla | TEDxVUB

Photonics expert and deep-tech professional Meryem Ben Elajla argues that a career does not have to follow a straight line. In her TEDxVUB talk, she questions the traditional idea of climbing the career ladder and proposes thinking of professional life as a map with different paths, unexpected turns and many opportunities. Drawing on her own varied path across research, technology and business, she invites listeners to consider mapping their careers instead of climbing them.

• Critique of the traditional career ladder model
• Career as a map with multiple paths and unexpected turns
• Personal experience across research, technology and business
• Presented at an independently organized TEDx event

What if your career wasn't meant to follow a straight line? Meryem challenges the traditional idea of climbing the career ladder, encouraging us to see our professional journeys as maps filled with different paths, unexpected turns, and endless opportunities. Meryem Ben Elajla, photonics expert, deep-tech professional, and someone whose career has taken her across research, technology, business and everything in between. Having explored so many different paths, Meryem knows firsthand that a career rarely moves in one straight direction. In her talk, she challenges the traditional career ladder and asks: what if we stopped climbing and started mapping instead? This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx