What if personal and professional growth didn’t have to fit into just one box — one focus, one goal, or one set of skills?
In the previous part of our Career Growth series, we explored how to thrive in a technical role while developing a broad range of non-technical skills.
Today, we turn the spotlight on Dmytro Zaichenko, PR and Outreach Lead at Coupler.io, our data integration and AI analytics platform. With over five years of experience in off-page SEO, PR, and content writing — particularly in SaaS and digital marketing — his career path has been anything but conventional.
Dmytro’s journey wasn’t straightforward: from studying cybersecurity and working at a bookstore, to pursuing passions in sports, music, technology, and logic. Along the way, he learned how to identify and grow his strongest skills, scale himself as a T-shaped specialist, support others, and navigate professional growth without being limited by stereotypes, myths, or fear.
So let’s pass the mic to Dmytro:
Mixing apples and oranges
“Are you more drawn to humanities or STEM subjects? Choose where you’re stronger.”
If you grew up in a traditional school system, you’ve probably heard that line before — maybe from a teacher, friend or parent.
I remember hearing it, too, and thinking — why not both?
I was that kid who loved music, literature, and writing essays. Yet, I also spent hours figuring out the mysteries of math. I was that kid who found poetry in logic, and logic in art. But when it came time to choose my field of study, I followed what seemed like a “rational” path — cybersecurity. It was trendy, complex, and deeply intriguing.
Four years later, after completing my bachelor’s degree, I switched gears. I enrolled in a part-time master’s program and started working in a bookstore. It wasn’t the “technical” job at all, but it gave me something just as valuable — independence and constant access to stories.
From analyzing risks and learning C++, I found myself consulting readers and, eventually, leading a small sales team. By today’s standards, I had become a team lead — though back then, I simply thought of it as helping people do their best.
That experience shaped how I see work and leadership to this day:
Human communication is at the core of everything — and it’s a power that needs subtle use.
It sounds simple, but it changes everything. Later, when I transitioned into marketing and content writing, I realized how vital this insight was. Whether giving feedback, aligning on goals, or discussing ideas, each conversation demands its own tone, form, and pace.
After a few years of exploration, I knew I wanted to stay in content production. Writing became my way to merge logic and creativity, to craft something meaningful yet structured. It let me grow intellectually, broaden my perspective, and apply the analytical mindset I had developed in university to something human and expressive.
At the same time, I’ve always loved challenges and wasn’t afraid to dive into freelance projects. I enjoyed writing about lots of topics — even topics most of my peers avoided.
Back in 2015, for example, I did a research article on the UAV technology, its application and ethics of use, which seemed a complicated topic for fellow writers, but exciting to me. Reliable sources were scarce. Everything depended on critical thinking and rigorous information hunting, without ChatGPT or instant search
By 2018, I became a Quality Control Specialist. My role went far beyond producing “just quality content.” It required helping writers with deep research, citations, structuring analytical papers, and crafting thoughtful, review-style materials. The team I worked with was diverse, being a mix of experienced professionals and newcomers. I found myself not just contributing, but mentoring, sharing feedback, and helping others grow.
Leadership before the title
Looking back, I realize I’ve always been more prone to leadership than management, long before I understood what it really meant. It wasn’t a career goal. It was just a pattern. In almost every job I took, I naturally ended up guiding others.
It all started in that small bookstore, before I had ever heard the term “T-shaped skills.” I didn’t know about vertical and horizontal growth — I was simply learning how to organize work, support teammates, and build trust. That’s where I discovered the essence of teamwork: structure, empathy, and clear communication.
Over time, I learned that not every “management” style fits everyone. From running a bookstore section to mentoring content writers, I found that control-driven management doesn’t resonate with me. Leadership does.
For me, leadership is less about authority and more about rhythm, like “floor-generaling” a team of basketball players. Everyone has their own pace, their own strokes, and sometimes, their own waves to overcome. A good leader doesn’t just push and track performance — they help people find balance between personal growth and shared goals.
That mindset shaped one of my strongest principles:
Transparency in communication builds trust. And trust, once given and received, fuels autonomy and motivation.
From writing to marketing
As I matured in content, I wanted to see the bigger picture. For instance, how wording influences strategy, or how creativity drives product growth. Around 2019, as SaaS was booming, I began shifting toward digital marketing.
At first, I explored SEO, outreach, and content strategy out of sheer curiosity. I wasn’t chasing certifications — I was chasing understanding. I read SEO blogs, joined meetups, explored HubSpot Academy, and learned through experimentation. But, as I soon discovered, the best teachers were my colleagues.
I truly believe that one hands-on project or honest feedback session can teach you more than 15 online courses ever could.
That philosophy became even clearer when I joined Railsware in 2020. The company had around 70–80 people at the time. So, it was small enough for close collaboration, yet big enough for big ideas. It was the perfect environment to test and grow.
I was actively focusing on off-page SEO and outreach, and was endorsed to take on PR tasks. Also, with a colleague at Mailtrap, we started experimenting with email marketing — creating newsletters, making mistakes, and learning from scratch and fast. A year later, I was relocated to Coupler.io, and those experiments evolved into full-scale activities that I handled.
Every project, big or small, contributed to my horizontal growth. Research, writing, marketing, communication, mentorship — they are all intertwined, helping me understand how creativity and structure feed each other.
That’s when the concept of being T-shaped finally made sense to me. You grow deep in your expertise but stay curious about everything around it.
Focus, details, structure, and “you can be both”
When you try to balance personal projects, lead a team, and still keep an eye on the bigger picture, things can get blurry fast. I know what it is like chasing goals, switching between tasks, feeling like the days are flying by.
Thus, prioritization became my mental GPS. Every Monday, I take time to map out the week — not perfectly, but enough to see where I’m heading. I set reminders, block out focus time, and give myself space to actually think.
Surely, in marketing, you can’t work without surprises. One day, you’re deep in a campaign plan, and the next, you’re handling an urgent request or testing a new idea. I’ve learned to stay steady through small habits — weekly planning, prioritization, documenting things clearly, and acting on details right away.
If I agree to an influencer collaboration, for instance, I immediately note down every next step — from visuals to content access. Details fade fast if you don’t capture them.
However, over time, I’ve also noticed that those small details show how much you’ve grown.
When someone on the team occasionally forgets a metric or misses a step, I don’t see it as a failure. It’s part of the process, though it deteriorates when it becomes repetitive and unaddressed. During retrospectives, I often suggest not overthinking but rather reflecting on the details you might have missed earlier or weeks ago, and crucially, how to avoid them further
Because growth isn’t about being flawless. It’s about awareness — in how you work, how you approach fixing flaws, how you give feedback, even in how you name your files. It’s the quiet kind of progress that doesn’t shout but shows up in the way you improve even the smallest details.
Write your own unwritten
Today, I feel grounded in my work, but I don’t see it as a journey towards a predefined destination — more like a path that keeps unfolding. Each project, challenge, and connection has shaped who and where I am, teaching me that growth rarely follows a straight line. It comes from curiosity, experimentation, and learning from both successes and mistakes.
So my advice? Don’t box yourself in. Whether it’s music, literature, sports, coding, or any curiosity that sparks your fire — explore it. The paths you didn’t expect, the side roads you’re afraid to take, often lead to the richest experiences. Keep your eyes open, your mind flexible, and your heart curious — because the journey is where the growth truly lives.
