The career-shifting tale of the Silverfish, the Grasshopper and the Butterfly

Metamorphosis is a useful metaphor for career change. I was researching it for a previous blog and discovered there are three types in the insect world.

Insects like silverfish are ametabolous and only change a bit — mostly they just grow larger. Grasshoppers and crickets are hemimetabolous and evolve from egg to nymph to adult. The change is gradual and the main difference is a nymph just lacks its adult wings. Lacewings, butterflies and moths are holometabolus and see dramatic metamorphosis — they completely transform from egg to larva, pupa to adult. The immature insects are unrecognisable from the adults — think caterpillars and butterflies.

In my Spoon by Spoon interviews I come across unique people going through many different career changes. However, I’ve noticed a resemblance between the three metamorphoses and three types of shifts.

There are career changers who don’t change their careers at all, they just work on their mind-set (the Silverfish). Others shift a little or move into adjacent types of work (the Grasshopper). And then there are those who reinvent themselves completely (the Butterfly).

Here is a story of three people. The Tale of the Silverfish, the Grasshopper and the Butterfly.