For as long as I can remember, people have asked me about careers. Sometimes it was a colleague at a nonprofit. Other times, it was a consultant just starting out. More recently, it’s been people on LinkedIn reaching out with questions about how to grow in the Workday ecosystem.

The questions are often the same:

• How do I start a career in Workday?
• What kinds of roles are out there?
• How do I grow into leadership?
• How do I get a raise?
  
  

After years of hearing these, I realized something important: there wasn’t a roadmap. No guide to show people the full picture of Workday careers and how to navigate them with intention. That’s why I wrote the Workday Gold- Navigating Your Career book.

A Career of Many Chapters

My own path wasn’t straight. I started in the 1990s working with ERP systems at manufacturing customers, on three different Y2K projects. In the 2000s, I shifted into consulting with Microsoft Great Plains, spending four years helping clients solve problems and deliver results.

Then I transitioned back to the customer side—16 years in leadership roles across two nonprofit organizations. At the second nonprofit, I was project manager for their Workday implementation, and later responsible for HR, Finance, and Integration support teams.

Next, I went back to consulting, helping to start and grow a consulting firm, which is now a Workday Implementation Partner.

It was during that time that the questions started coming more frequently. People wanted to know: how can I build a career in this space? What steps should I take?

Why the Book

The more I shared, the more I realized: these conversations couldn’t just stay in hallways or 1:1 coaching calls. They needed to be written down, organized, and shared with the broader Workday community.

So I sat down to write. And over the course of 18 chapters, I mapped out what I wish I’d had when I started:

• A clear view of the Workday ecosystem.
• The essential roles that make it work.
• Practical steps to grow as a professional and as a leader.
• Honest insights into consulting, independent work, and networking.

And because the world is changing fast, I added AI Challenges to every chapter—ways to experiment with how tools like AI can accelerate your learning and career development.

Looking Ahead

I didn’t write this book just to tell my story. I wrote it to help you write yours.

My hope is simple: that The Workday Gold- Navigating Your Career book gives you clarity, confidence, and the courage to be intentional about your next step—whether that’s learning a new skill, pursuing a new role, or stepping into leadership.

Careers don’t just happen. They’re built, one decision at a time.

And the Workday ecosystem is full of doors waiting to be opened.