Picking Your Career Path: Horizontal vs Vertical Growth at Your Job

This article is based on a recent Career Workshop session that took place in our Discord server.

Career growth isn’t a one-size-fits-all journey. Whether you’re aiming to climb the corporate ladder or explore different roles, it’s all about balancing horizontal and vertical growth. Horizontal growth helps you pick up new skills and try out fresh opportunities, while vertical growth hones your expertise and moves you up the ranks in your field. Together, they create a well-rounded path for long-term success. 

In this article, we’ll break down both approaches, look at their pros and cons, and share tips on how to use them effectively. Whether you’re in a startup or a corporate setting, you’ll learn how to shape a career that fits your goals and keeps you growing.

Here’s the workshop video

Chapters

00:00 – Introduction
01:12 – T-shape of Skilling
06:53 – Introducing Vertical Growth
08:32 – Introducing Horizontal Growth
10:00 – Perks of Vertical Growth
10:42 – Downsides of Vertical Growth
15:19 – Downsides of Horizontal Growth
19:34 – The Ideal Combination
23:46 – Career Options after Age 35 in Pakistan
24:45 – Mid-Career Options in Pakistan
25:45 – Startups vs SMBs vs Enterprises in Pakistan
30:15 – Closing Remarks

Understanding Horizontal and Vertical Growth

Whenever we talk about career growth, the T-shaped skills framework often comes up. Representing the depth and breadth of one’s expertise, this T-shape offers a visual explanation of how skills develop over time. It highlights three primary skill development paths:

  1. Upskilling: Improving your expertise in your current role. For instance, a writer honing their craft by learning advanced techniques or tackling challenging projects.
  2. Cross-skilling: Acquiring skills outside your primary role, such as a writer learning basic design or SEO to complement their content creation responsibilities.
  3. Reskilling: Completely shifting your focus to a new domain, like transitioning from writing to coding.

Each of these contributes to forming the T-shaped skillset, where the vertical line represents depth in one area and the horizontal line represents versatility across fields.

Vertical Growth: Climbing the Ladder

Vertical growth typically involves promotions and moving up within your field or organization. This path is characterized by:

  • Promotions: Advancing from one level to the next, e.g., moving from a junior writer to a lead writer.
  • Increased Compensation: A higher salary often accompanies promotions.
  • Expanded Authority: Taking on managerial or leadership roles, even if not officially part of your responsibilities.

While this growth can be rewarding, it comes with challenges. Specializing deeply in one area may limit your job opportunities, especially if the market for senior roles in your field is small. Furthermore, leadership roles often require managerial skills, which may not align with your interests or strengths.

Horizontal Growth: Broadening Your Horizons

Horizontal growth focuses on exploring new roles or responsibilities within the same company or industry. Key aspects include:

  • Role Changes: Switching to a different job within your domain, such as moving from content writing to social media management.
  • Skill Diversification: Expanding your competencies to adapt to various tasks, increasing versatility.
  • New Opportunities: Opening pathways for vertical growth by broadening expertise.

While horizontal growth enriches your skillset, it might delay promotions or the financial benefits associated with vertical growth. However, it offers greater flexibility and prepares you for a wide range of future opportunities.

Balancing Both Paths

Career progression often boils down to striking a balance between horizontal and vertical growth. Each path offers distinct advantages and challenges, and understanding them is crucial to building a sustainable and fulfilling career. Let’s look into the nuances of both approaches, with practical advice on how to combine them effectively, especially in the context of industries like tech and IT.

Cons

Career progression often boils down to striking a balance between horizontal and vertical growth. Each path offers distinct advantages and challenges, and understanding them is crucial to building a sustainable and fulfilling career. Let’s look into the nuances of both approaches, with practical advice on how to combine them effectively, especially in the context of industries like tech and IT.

Cons of Vertical Growth 

Vertical growth, characterized by climbing the corporate ladder through promotions, increased authority, and higher compensation, is a common career aspiration. However, there are significant drawbacks to focusing solely on vertical growth:

  • Narrowed Opportunities: As individuals advance vertically, their career paths become more constrained. Employers seek candidates for specialized senior roles, and these positions are limited in number. Moreover, the higher salaries associated with vertical growth can make it challenging to find equivalent roles in the job market, especially in regions with limited opportunities.
  • Forced Management Transition: Vertical growth often necessitates moving into management roles, whether or not an individual is suited for them. Skilled technical professionals, such as coders or engineers, may find themselves burdened with managerial responsibilities they lack the interest or aptitude for, leading to dissatisfaction and stress.
  • Skill Siloing: Focusing solely on vertical growth within one organization can result in a narrow skill set. This lack of cross-functional experience can make transitioning to new roles or adapting to industry changes more difficult. Over time, professionals risk becoming irrelevant in the broader job market.
  • Risk of Complacency: Vertical growth often provides a false sense of security. Stable salaries and predictable work routines may discourage continuous learning and reskilling. This complacency can leave individuals vulnerable to industry disruptions or organizational restructuring.

Vertical growth offers financial rewards and prestige, but relying solely on this career strategy can lead to stagnation, dissatisfaction, and limited long-term prospects. A more balanced approach that incorporates elements of horizontal growth and continuous learning may provide a more sustainable and fulfilling career trajectory.

Cons of Horizontal Growth

Horizontal growth, characterized by cross-skilling and reskilling, opens doors to new opportunities and provides a broader understanding of different roles. However, there are significant drawbacks to focusing solely on horizontal growth:

  • Lack of Specialization: Employers often seek individuals with deep expertise in a specific area rather than generalists who have dabbled in various domains. This makes it harder to sell your value in the job market.
  • Stagnant Compensation: Without specialized skills, achieving significant pay raises or authority within an organization becomes challenging. As one gains experience across diverse roles, the compensation often remains standard because there is no unique value proposition.
  • Illusion of Expertise: Engaging in multiple domains can create a false sense of mastery. For example, someone who has briefly explored front-end, back-end, DevOps, and design over a few years might label themselves a full-stack engineer. However, this pales in comparison to a full-stack engineer with a decade of experience developing complex products and applications.

Horizontal growth can trap individuals in a cycle of learning without achieving true expertise, especially in fields like performance marketing, coding, or IT. While experimenting with different roles is valuable, relying solely on horizontal growth can hinder long-term career development.


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The Ideal Approach: Combining Horizontal and Vertical Growth

To build a successful career, it is essential to balance horizontal and vertical growth. Here’s how to approach this:

Early Career: Focus on Horizontal Growth

  • Experiment and Explore: The first two years of your career should be dedicated to exploring various domains and roles. This experimentation helps you identify your strengths, interests, and areas with the most potential for vertical growth.
  • Passion Meets Opportunity: During this phase, it’s essential to find a role that aligns with your skills, interests, and long-term opportunities for growth. Passion, combined with a lucrative career path, creates a sustainable and fulfilling trajectory.

Mid to Long-Term Career: Transition to Vertical Growth

  • Specialize: Once you’ve identified your passion and a domain with significant opportunities, focus on vertical growth. Build deep expertise in a specific area to establish yourself as a valuable asset in the job market.
  • Pursue Continuous Learning: Even while specializing, stay updated with industry trends and new technologies. Passion-driven professionals naturally invest time outside work to enhance their skills, ensuring consistent career growth.
  • Portfolio Building: Showcase your expertise through tangible projects and achievements. A strong portfolio is essential for overcoming opportunity gaps and demonstrating your value to potential employers.

Avoiding Career Pitfalls in the Context of Pakistan

In Pakistan, career opportunities tend to narrow beyond a certain age, particularly between 35 and 45 years. Most professionals end up pursuing one of the following paths:

  1. Entrepreneurship: Running a business becomes a viable option for those seeking financial independence and control over their careers.
  2. Relocating Abroad: Many professionals move overseas in search of better opportunities and growth.
  3. Settling for Stable Jobs: Opting for low-demand “government job” equivalents, which offer financial security but limited professional challenges.

Given these limitations, it’s vital to plan your career trajectory early and make informed decisions about your job choices. For instance:

  • Startups: Working in a startup can offer accelerated horizontal growth, as small teams often require employees to wear multiple hats. However, startups come with high risks, such as financial instability or lack of long-term security.
  • Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs): These companies typically offer more structured roles than startups but still allow some level of cross-skilling.
  • Enterprises or Corporations: Larger organizations provide opportunities for vertical growth, with clearly defined career paths and a focus on specialization.

Choosing the right environment depends on your career stage and goals. For early-career professionals, startups and SMBs can offer valuable learning experiences. Mid-career professionals, however, may find better stability and growth potential in enterprises.

Corporate vs. Startup: Balancing Stability and Risk in Your Career

When considering a career in the corporate world or a startup, the long-term implications and trade-offs of each path play a crucial role in decision-making. Let’s break this down further based on the final insights provided in the transcript.

Corporate: Stability and Vertical Growth

In a corporate environment, the most attractive feature is stability. You can work here for decades if you consistently perform well. Corporations often emphasize vertical growth, meaning that promotions and career progression are structured and predictable. As long as you are diligent and meet expectations, you can expect job security.

However, there are significant limitations:

  • Limited Financial Upside: While your initial salary may seem appealing, over a span of 10–15 years, corporate roles tend to offer lower financial growth compared to startups. Unless you ascend to a director, management, or C-level position, the monetary rewards can stagnate.
  • Managerial Pressure: Once you reach a certain stage in your vertical growth, the company may push you into managerial roles. Not everyone aspires to or enjoys managing teams, which can lead to dissatisfaction in the long run.

Corporate careers are ideal for those who prioritize a steady paycheck and job security over rapid financial gains or dynamic, high-risk environments.

Startups: High Risk, High Reward

On the other end of the spectrum, startups offer the potential for rapid financial growth and learning opportunities, making them highly appealing to ambitious professionals. Startups reward employees who are willing to adapt, innovate, and take on multiple responsibilities.

Key characteristics include:

  • Higher Risk: The biggest drawback of startups is their uncertain longevity. Many startups fail within their first few years, making job security a significant concern. This is especially challenging for professionals with financial obligations or dependents.
  • Maximum Earnings Potential: Over a 10–15 year period, successful startups can provide far greater financial returns than corporate roles. Whether through equity, bonuses, or fast-paced promotions, the earning potential is unmatched.
  • Dynamic Environment: Startups are ideal for those who thrive in fast-changing, high-pressure environments and are eager to learn a wide range of skills in a short amount of time.

For professionals early in their career, startups can be a fantastic way to gain experience and maximize earning potential, but the inherent risks require careful consideration.

Choosing the Right Path: A Strategic Decision

The decision between a corporate job and a startup ultimately boils down to your career stage, financial goals, and risk tolerance. Here’s a framework to help guide your choice:

  1. Early Career: In your first 2–3 years, consider exploring startups. These environments can fast-track your learning and offer significant financial rewards if successful. However, be prepared for instability and the possibility of frequent job changes.
  2. Mid-Career: After gaining some experience, reflect on your priorities. If you’re willing to take risks and aim for high returns, startups may still be the way to go. On the other hand, if financial stability and consistent growth are more important, transitioning to a corporate role could be a wise choice.
  3. Long-Term Goals: Think about what you value most in the long run. If you prioritize job stability and predictable growth, the corporate path is the safer bet. If you’re willing to embrace risk for the chance of significant financial rewards, startups may be worth the gamble.

Conclusion

If you want to build a career that’s both fulfilling and sustainable, you’ve got to find the right mix of horizontal and vertical growth.

Here’s the deal: horizontal growth is all about picking up new skills and trying out different roles, while vertical growth is where you get really good at something and move up the ladder. Both matter, but how you balance them depends on where you are in your career.

Early on? Explore! Try out different industries, figure out what excites you, and build a wide skillset. But as you progress, it’s time to focus. Start doubling down on your strengths and becoming the go-to person in your field. That’s how you build credibility and set yourself apart.

Now, let’s talk about startups vs. corporate jobs—two very different vibes. Startups are perfect if you’re looking for fast growth and don’t mind a bit of risk. You’ll wear many hats and learn a ton in a short amount of time. But if you’re someone who values stability, structure, and a clear career path, corporate roles are where it’s at.

At the end of the day, it’s all about knowing your goals and playing to your strengths. Mix up horizontal and vertical growth, pick the right kind of job for where you’re at, and you’ll set yourself up for a career that not only pays the bills but also keeps you excited for what’s next.

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