Stuck in the “Messy Middle”?
“Am I really growing right now?”
“Will I be able to keep doing this job in the future?”
“What is my competitive edge?”
Just like the uncertainty of adolescence, there comes a time in our professional lives when we question our identity and growth. This confusing stage is often referred to as the Messy Middle—a period full of doubts, setbacks, and intermittent successes.
Messy Middle: A period in one’s career, typically between 3 and 10 years of experience, marked by uncertainty, growth spurts, setbacks, and the recurring feeling of being stuck.
Do you remember how you overcame adolescence? We don’t usually say we “conquered” adolescence—we say we “went through” it. If overcoming adolescence wasn’t a matter of sheer will, does the same apply to the Messy Middle in our careers? Unlike teenage rebellion, which the world tolerates, mid-career professionals don’t have the luxury of time. The reality is different; you need to refocus and find a way through it.
Two content planners at Fast Campus, Y and H, have both wrestled with their own Messy Middle periods. Y resigned from the company to explore new challenges before rejoining, while H brought nearly a decade of content industry experience to Fast Campus. Both faced this turbulent career phase head-on and, in doing so, crafted a new education format designed to help others like them—Inner Circle.
Inner Circle: From Educational Program to Professional Community
Inner Circle is a program specifically designed for professionals with at least three years of experience who find themselves grappling with the challenges of growth and achievement. Unlike traditional courses, it emphasizes peer interaction, feedback, and mentorship, all conducted online. Participants engage in discussions, projects, and code reviews with top-tier leaders and similarly experienced colleagues. This interactive format is a significant departure from the more passive, one-way nature of traditional online education.
Not everyone can join Inner Circle. The application process includes careful vetting to ensure that participants are at similar career levels and can contribute to a productive cohort. The name “Inner Circle” itself reflects this sense of exclusivity, emphasizing that the program is a tight-knit community of selected professionals.
The Inner Circle, with its four courses successfully launched and fully enrolled, reflects the experiences of planners Y and H. Having personally navigated their own Messy Middle, they were able to craft the solid foundation upon which Inner Circle was built.
Is it Just Me?
Y, who helped create Inner Circle, had already built an impressive career in educational content planning both within and outside of Fast Campus. Yet, despite his skills and achievements, he started to question whether the work was still fulfilling. He wondered if continuing on the same path would offer further growth.
After discussing his concerns openly with CEO Shin Haedong, Y was offered several options for growth: leading a new team, launching a new business, or pioneering a new educational format. Y chose the latter, resulting in Inner Circle—an innovative education format that has since thrived.
Changer says
“Fast Campus encourages new ideas and experimentation. Haedong helped me see different paths for growth and offered practical suggestions. But ultimately, I had to prove why my new direction would work. The important thing is to share your concerns. Keeping them to yourself might mean missing out on opportunities.”
More Than Knowledge—Seeking Wisdom
A mentor who understands your situation and can offer tailored advice is a rare and invaluable asset. What if your mentor was one of the top leaders in the industry? In Inner Circle, top developers and team leads serve as mentors, offering feedback on weekly assignments and 1:1 mentorship sessions. For those in the uncertain Messy Middle stage, having such mentors and receiving their wisdom can be career-defining.
In Y’s case, Shin Haedong, who had grown from a senior content planner to the company’s CEO, served as his mentor. In the Inner Circle program, however, top-tier development leaders and current team-level developers take on the mentoring role. They provide feedback on weekly missions and assignments, and before the program concludes, participants receive 1:1 mentoring with their leaders and mentors.
Many people mistakenly believe that their current problems are entirely their own. While this may seem like an irrefutable statement, there are often moments when who is leading you and the organization you belong to matter more than your individual determination. Had Y kept his concerns to himself and come to conclusions alone, there would have been no new challenge at FastCampus.
For those navigating the uncertain phase of the Messy Middle, having someone to guide them out of the tunnel is crucial. This is especially true for those with inadequate leadership or who are part of underperforming organizations. Inner Circle is an educational program designed for every developer stuck in the Messy Middle, where wisdom is delivered through people and mentoring, rather than simply imparting knowledge as in other content.
Who You Work With Matters—A Lot
After nearly 10 years in the content planning and management space, H joined Fast Campus. Despite her seniority, H found herself learning from younger colleagues and adapting to new ways of working. Collaborating with the best in the business, H realized the importance of being surrounded by people who push you to grow, regardless of your years of experience.
Changer says
“Fast Campus is a young company, so I’m one of the more experienced ones here. But that means I’ve had to adapt to younger colleagues, master the latest collaboration tools, and learn to communicate without coming off as intimidating. Working with top-tier industry experts here, I’ve learned that there’s no end to growth. Meeting 50-year-old developers who are still learning with passion is a humbling experience.”
Why Inner Circle is a Cohort Community
People move to areas with better schools or invest significant time and money into getting into top universities in order to grow within a group of high-performing individuals. When H joined FastCampus, working with younger colleagues allowed him to learn new perspectives and work trends, and collaborating with industry-leading experts helped him develop a strong work ethic. Just as the environment and the people you work with influence your learning and growth, who you are surrounded by makes a significant difference.
However, not everyone works in an organization filled with top-tier colleagues. Depending on your career or industry, you might not have peers in the same role, or even if you do, meaningful discussions may be hard to come by.
Inner Circle was designed to offer the same benefits as joining one of the best development teams in the country. It includes a community feature where participants can work together on projects and archive their progress on shared sheets. All documents—such as reports, essays, and activity records—are shared within privacy boundaries, and participants can access work from other members, including those from different courses and cohorts, in the future.
Believe in What You’ve Built
Many professionals, when facing career uncertainty, think they need to start from scratch to break through. But being in the Messy Middle means you already have skills you’ve built over time. Abandoning what you do well in favor of something completely new may not always be the best path. Instead, trust what you’ve developed so far and leverage it in new ways.
Y returned to Fast Campus in a specialist role, using his expertise to recruit top-tier leaders for Inner Circle. Without his experience, those leaders would have been much harder to bring on board. H’s experience managing large-scale events has been critical in running Inner Circle’s multiple cohort-based programs smoothly.
The Messy Middle is not a sign that you’re doing something wrong. It’s the natural result of caring deeply about your work and wanting to grow faster than circumstances allow. Trust what you’ve built so far—it will help you tackle new challenges.
✍️Key Takeaways
- Sharing your concerns can open up new opportunities. Don’t hesitate to seek advice from others.
- Who you work with is a major factor in your growth. If your current environment isn’t fulfilling, seek out external communities or mentors.
- Recognize the value of the skills you’ve already built. They will help you solve new problems and grow further.
- The Messy Middle isn’t a period of failure—it’s a sign of growth. With persistence, it can be overcome, leading to even greater success.
