What Do Music, Law, Retail, and Telecommunications Have in Common?

At first glance, probably not much.

Yet at Capacity Europe 2026 in London, four professionals with very different career beginnings found themselves sitting on the same stage, discussing how their individual journeys had led them into an industry they had grown to love.

The discussion went beyond the technical skills often associated with telecommunications. It explored the unexpected routes people take throughout their careers, the lessons learned from jobs that may not have seemed relevant at the time, and the importance of being willing to step outside your comfort zone.

Your First Job Doesn't Have to Define Your Future

There's often an expectation, especially among young professionals, that you should know exactly what you want to do before you even begin your career.

The Jobs You Don't Love Can Teach You the Most

Not every position will be your dream job. In fact, some of the most valuable career lessons come from responsibilities that challenge your patience, confidence, or comfort level.

One particularly relatable discussion during the panel centered on sales and the experience of cold calling.

For many professionals entering sales, cold calling is almost a rite of passage. You're tasked with reaching out to strangers, starting conversations, handling objections, and finding opportunities where none may initially exist.

And sometimes, you hear no. Repeatedly.

Cold calling isn't for the weak, but it builds a type of resilience that can be difficult to develop any other way.

You learn not to take every rejection personally. You discover how to adjust your approach, recognize what works, and improve with each interaction.

Perhaps most importantly, you learn how to move forward after an uncomfortable experience rather than allowing it to discourage you.

Those lessons don't disappear when you leave a sales role. They follow you into presentations, negotiations, leadership positions, business development conversations, and everyday professional interactions.

A job you once considered uncomfortable or temporary may ultimately give you the confidence to succeed in an entirely different career.

Build Experience Before You Build Expectations

It's natural to have an idea of what your ideal career should look like. But sometimes, becoming too focused on a particular title, salary, or career path can limit the opportunities you're willing to explore.

Early in your career, experience can be one of the most valuable things you collect.

Even if an opportunity doesn't align perfectly with your long-term goals, it may introduce you to new interests, people, or skills that change your perspective.

Every experience helps answer important questions.

• What type of work energizes you?
• What challenges do you enjoy solving?
• Do you prefer working independently or collaborating with a team?
• Are you drawn to creative work, technical problem-solving, strategy, or building relationships?
• Equally important, what don't you enjoy?

Discovering what you don't want in a career can be just as valuable as discovering what you do.

The more environments, responsibilities, and perspectives you're exposed to, the better equipped you become to make informed decisions about your future.

Growth Begins Outside Your Comfort Zone

One of the common threads connecting the different career journeys discussed at Capacity Europe was the willingness to explore unfamiliar territory.

Entering a new industry can be intimidating, especially one as technical as digital infrastructure. Subsea cables, interconnection, power, and data centers come with their own language, and it's easy to assume there's no place for someone without an engineering background.

The panel showed otherwise. This industry needs communicators, strategists, negotiators, relationship builders, and problem solvers just as much as it needs technical experts. The skills you bring from another field are often what help you stand out.

No one on that stage started with all the answers. Each of them said yes to something unfamiliar, asked questions, and learned along the way.

Behind every connection, every network, and every piece of critical infrastructure is a team of dedicated individuals working to keep the digital world running. At NJFX, we recognize that maintaining this infrastructure requires more than advanced technology. It takes skilled professionals, collaboration, continuous learning, and a commitment to developing the next generation of industry leaders.

This past summer, NJFX welcomed three bright young men into our internship program, each gaining hands-on exposure to a different area of our operations. From security and site access to electrical infrastructure and daily facility operations, our interns experienced firsthand what it takes to support a mission-critical environment.

While their responsibilities differed, they shared one common mission: supporting the infrastructure that keeps the world connected.

The Value of Learning Goes Both Ways

An internship is often viewed as an opportunity for students to gain experience, but at NJFX, we believe the benefits extend far beyond the interns themselves.

When experienced professionals take the time to teach, explain, and share their knowledge, they are doing more than helping someone understand a task. They are passing along years of industry experience, lessons learned, and the practical knowledge that cannot always be found in a classroom or textbook.

Teaching also creates an opportunity for our own team members to grow. Mentorship encourages our professionals to reflect on their expertise, strengthen their communication skills, and approach familiar responsibilities through a fresh perspective. Questions from young professionals can spark new conversations, challenge assumptions, and remind us of the importance of the work we do every day.

It's an exchange of knowledge that strengthens everyone involved.

Beyond the Classroom: Experiencing Critical Infrastructure Firsthand

For many young professionals, telecommunications, data centers, and subsea cable infrastructure are industries they may not have previously considered as career paths. Yet these facilities form the backbone of our increasingly connected world.

Every video call, financial transaction, cloud application, and AI-powered service depends on an extensive ecosystem of physical infrastructure and the people responsible for operating it. At NJFX, our interns have the unique opportunity to step inside that ecosystem.

They can see how departments interact, understand why procedures matter, and observe the level of responsibility required to support infrastructure that operates around the clock. Perhaps most importantly, they begin to recognize the wide range of career opportunities available within the digital infrastructure industry.

That kind of exposure is invaluable. It transforms an industry that may have once seemed unfamiliar into something tangible, accessible, and full of possibility.