One of my viewers, Filip, recently asked a fantastic question in the comments section of my latest video. He asked point-blank if I regret leaving my safe, full-time job. That question hit the nail on the head, especially now, in July 2026, just a couple of months after I finally closed the corporate doors behind me in May to dedicate myself one hundred percent to KajoData. It seems to me that the question about regret and working a 9-to-5 is, in reality, a much broader inquiry. It’s a question about life changes, taking risks, and what truly drives our most critical decisions. That’s exactly why I decided to answer it comprehensively in this article.
Truth be told, Filip was quite right in his calculations. If I had treated my full-time employment in the most conservative way possible and focused solely on it—working five days a week as a Data Architect rather than the four I was doing towards the end—I would be earning roughly twenty-five thousand PLN net today. Let’s not fool ourselves; that is a lot of money that provides incredible peace of mind. However, I have faced similar dilemmas several times in my professional life. Each time, I asked myself the same question: should I continue doing something that is safe, stable, and at which I am reasonably good, or should I take a risk and change my environment to one that offers a chance for something more?
Law School: A Safe Profession and the Prospect of Unhappiness
The first serious situation where I collided with societal pressure and my own doubts was during my law studies. I studied law for a year and a half, and, to be completely honest, I was very mediocre at it. I didn’t feel any passion for cramming codes, and the vision of spending the rest of my life in a gown in a courtroom or a corporate law firm filled me with anxiety rather than excitement.
On the other hand, I had a clear, well-trodden path ahead of me. All I had to do was grit my teeth, survive the upcoming exam sessions, and persevere to the end. Law is objectively a very good profession, offering prestige and financial stability. The mere fact that I got into tuition-free, full-time law studies was treated by my family and surroundings as a major achievement. So, when I started talking aloud about dropping out, I met a massive wall of misunderstanding.
For many people watching my decision, it looked like simple academic fatigue. They advised me, explaining that it was just a temporary emotion, a reluctance stemming from facing my first serious difficulty. They said, “It turned out to be harder than you thought, and that’s why you’re running away.” I, however, had a very strong intuition that I couldn’t silence. I felt that continuing in that environment would simply make me a miserable person in the long run. I felt that if I stayed in law school, some vital part of me—the part I didn’t want to lose for anything in the world—would irrevocably die. I realized then that a twenty-year-old guy has the right to make such decisions, even if the whole world around him thinks it’s a mistake. And so, I walked away from law.
Polish Philology: A Battle of Charisma and Artistic Ego
Another life dilemma occurred a bit later and looked entirely different. I ended up studying Polish Philology, which are the studies I ultimately graduated from with a master’s degree. Unlike law, I did really well here. Despite various bumps along my path, I finished this stage with solid results. During my master’s thesis defense, my professors clearly suggested that a Ph.D. would be a natural and excellent career path for me. Perhaps you can see it in my content, but I’ve always had a bit of a “gift of the gab.” The ability to manage words, formulate thoughts, and argue points are traits that are highly valued and well-liked in the humanities.
I was even lucky enough to co-organize a very high-quality conference at the Jagiellonian University with my friend Monika. People from the academic environment who observed us then were absolutely convinced that we would both become permanent fixtures in that world. Monika actually stayed in academia, and looking back, I think it was an excellent decision for her. But I hit a different wall.
For me, Polish Philology was largely an artistic and highly subjective field of study. That meant an environment with incredibly difficult conditions for objectively evaluating whether we were doing well or poorly. Academia in the humanities is often a brutal battle of charisma, which can be incredibly exhausting mentally. It’s a constant proving of who is better read, who can dominate the discussion with their intellect by dropping a niche quote at the right moment. I’m sure you know people who are smart to a fault and constantly manifest it.
I used to be very impressed by this; in fact, I tried to be like that myself. But I noticed that, in the long run, it is a tough sport to endure. It’s a bit like someone having a giant bicep and flexing it in front of the environment at every possible opportunity. I was in an environment where there was a constant display of the artistic-intellectual bicep. I realized that with each passing year, the fight to prove my charisma to everyone would become harder and increasingly detached from my true needs.
I decided I preferred a normal commercial career path. Why? Because in business, the criteria for promotion and development are much easier to identify and measure. I left, even though it came with regret. I regretted leaving a world I navigated almost perfectly for an entirely unknown world that initially proved extremely difficult. My first commercial stop after Philology was working as a receptionist in hostels and hotels in Krakow.
Hospitality: The Promotion Trap and the Art of Improvisation
Working in the hotel industry was a massive lesson in humility, but also an incredible school of life. I quickly started developing in this field. Regular reception work turned into a supervisor position, and at a certain point, I was offered the job of a group manager. This position was a very clear step towards permanently anchoring myself in the hospitality industry and moving into serious property management in the future.
And here, once again, the same dilemma appeared. I already had an excellent understanding of the industry, I was appreciated, and a promotion was on the table. I faced the decision of whether to abandon something I was good at to seek something more. Something was telling me that a better future awaited, one where I could eliminate the unfixable flaws of hotel work.
It was about the brutal reality of shift work. Hospitality is an industry that never sleeps; it’s a 24/7 job. Unexpected things happened constantly; guests could behave irrationally and chaotically. Managing this constant chaos and the requirement of perpetual improvisation drained the last ounces of my energy. I turned down the promotion, once again choosing uncertainty over cementing myself in a path that would destroy me in the long run. That decision eventually led me to data analysis—a decision for which I am incredibly grateful to myself today.
Golden Handcuffs: Why I Left Zooplus
And so we arrive at the biggest dilemma of my career, which was ultimately leaving my full-time job. Over 7 years, I went from a junior analyzing simple tables to a Data Architect working for a large, international company—Zooplus. It was an incredibly comfortable, stable, well-paying job that gave me a lot of intellectual satisfaction.
However, parallel to this job, my own “child” was growing. Since December 2021, I had been building the KajoData brand. The scale of this project increased with every passing month. I reached a point where my earnings from running KajoData significantly exceeded what I was getting from my full-time job. But there was a catch: this money was uncertain. One month would be brilliant, the next significantly weaker. Full-time employment gave me a stability that KajoData was still learning to achieve. I could have continued sitting on two chairs—working four days a week for the corporation and developing my courses in the evenings and on weekends.
But I had to face reality. The fact that I managed to achieve certain fundamental goals in life, like getting a mortgage for a house with my wife, was because I started working for myself. I realized that the KajoData project was developing brilliantly but was hitting the ceiling of my available time. I felt like I was standing straddled between two worlds. I had to make a decision and sacrifice one of these valuable things to fully commit to the other.
In May 2026, I decided. I chose KajoData. I chose to build an ecosystem where I genuinely change other people’s lives. KajoDataSpace, our flagship subscription product, where we give full access to courses, a community, and webinars, became the main pillar of my business. This place is buzzing with life, and we have already helped dozens of people get their first jobs in data analysis. When I see their successes, I know I made the right choice, even if it meant losing my corporate safety net.
Courage vs. Fear: The Red Pill of Data Analysis
The crux of all this, where I’m heading, rests on one simple premise. Every so often in life, we face a choice: we either choose safety or we choose our dreams. In my case, that theoretical safety was the job of a data architect. I decided to choose my dreams. I know how it sounds. When I talk about “self-realization” and “following your dreams,” I probably sound like some pompous life coach from a cheap self-help book. I assure you, I’m not that detached from reality. The truth about this decision is brutally pragmatic, but at the same time, it requires gigantic courage.
In my opinion, life regularly presents us with crossroads, and we can make a decision either from a place of courage or a place of fear. Do you remember that iconic scene from The Matrix? Morpheus says to Neo: “You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
When we choose from a place of fear—meaning we take the blue pill—we usually go down the path we know better. We protect our comfort. But this path offers drastically fewer opportunities for something new to happen to us. We close ourselves off from realizing the vision we carry deep in our hearts. Often, we don’t even allow life to surprise us positively.
I feel that my complete transition to KajoData strongly resembles the decisions many of you make to enter the IT industry and rebrand yourselves as data analysts. Both of these paths are full of uncertainty. I know that if you lack the proper foundations, entering this industry seems terrifying. That’s why I always recommend solid preparation, whether through carefully selected SQL and Python courses or by joining places like KajoDataSpace, where we take some of the weight of the unknown off your shoulders. But ultimately, that final decision—the jump into the deep end—is one nobody can make for you.
Micro-shame and Living in the Comfort Zone
I wouldn’t want this article to sound shaming to anyone. If someone is afraid and doesn’t find the courage to change right now, it is absolutely no reason for shame. Fighting to maintain the comfort and safety of your family is a noble goal.
However, it is worth being aware of a certain phenomenon I have experienced many times myself. Those situations in my life when I didn’t decide on a step dictated by courage—when I made decisions motivated solely by the fear of judgment or the fear of losing comfort—returned to me years later in the form of something I call “micro-shame.” It’s that quiet, recurring sting of regret that at a crucial moment, we backed out, pulled our foot back, played extremely safe, and thereby lost the chance to win. There is no shame in losing. We lose often; it’s natural. But it’s harder to bear the knowledge that we forfeited the match to a better version of ourselves. It’s hard to “have your cake and eat it too”—to declare a desire to protect your comfort, and then be angry at the world that you aren’t reaping the rewards reserved for risk-takers.
Looking back at my life, I see that it consists of small, courageous segments. Those leaps into the unknown. When I meet people who have chosen a safe, straight line their whole lives, I see a flatness in their experiences. Mine has been full of bumps, but I wouldn’t trade those jumps for anything in the world. I would never give up that feeling when, from being an average humanist exhausted by working at a reception desk, I became a respected Data Architect, only to leave it all behind to build my own company.
Summary: Do I Regret It?
So, do I regret losing security and leaving my employment contract? No.
Of course, I sometimes miss the predictability a corporation provided. I will probably regret this decision in weaker moments more than once. Running a business is a sine wave; there are harder times when stress can take its toll. Money is very necessary in life; it helps cut off a lot of problems and gain peace so you don’t live in a constant struggle to survive until the first of the month. But ultimately, bringing it all down to the foundations: we only have one life.
What will I have from this life at the very end? I will have a handful of memories of moments when I decided to follow my dreams. Of times when I did something risky, damn hard, but ultimately fascinating. I chose the path in the rain, not knowing exactly where it would lead, instead of the road whose end I knew all too well.
If this post resonates with your thoughts, if you yourself are standing at a crossroads wondering whether to risk changing industries to data analysis or starting your own business, remember—a decision made from a place of courage always opens new doors.
If you found this article valuable, I would be incredibly grateful if you shared it on your LinkedIn, Facebook, or other social media profiles. Your shares help me reach people who—perhaps right at this very moment—need a little push to make the most courageous decision of their lives. See you in the next materials!
The article was written by Kajo Rudziński – analytical data architect, recognized expert in data analysis, creator of KajoData and polish community for analysts KajoDataSpace.
That’s all on this topic. Analyze in peace!
Did you like this article 🙂?
Share it on Social Media 📱
>>> You can share it on LinkedIn and show that you learn something new every day.
>>> You can throw it on Facebook – and perhaps help a friend of yours who is looking for this.
>>> And remember to bookmark this page, you never know if it won’t come handy in in the future.
You prefer to watch 📺 – no problem
>>> Subscribe and watch my English channel on YouTube.
Prefer to read in Polish? No problem!
Other interesting articles:
