Success Story: Anya Dudek, Teacher to Customer Success Manager
Having worked in my share of education technology roles, I have had the opportunity to meet countless talented and inspiring professionals along the way. And you know what a lot of us have in common? We’re former teachers. In a recent podcast interview, Anya Dudek shared her journey from teacher to customer success manager and offered advice for other teachers looking to make the switch.
Connecting with Your Values as a Former Teacher
One of the key takeaways from Anya's story is the importance of finding a company that aligns with your values. For Anya, this meant working for tech companies that prioritize education and giving back to the community.
“I did not fully feel that guilt throughout my education journey because I'd gone from being in the classroom to working in education policy research to EdTech,” Anya said. “Being connected in education throughout, I really feel every single day that I’m impacting students”
Soft Skills in Customer Success
Soft skills are crucial in customer success. Soft skills vary from hard skills in that they are more personality traits or work ethic.
To work well with your team and your customers, you need to be collaborative, empathetic, friendly. Relationship building is instrumental to customer success.
Anya also highlighted the crucial skill of being able to backward plan against a goal. Can you see (or create) a goal and execute a plan to get to it?
She also emphasized the need to be adaptable and to learn quickly, particularly in a rapidly changing industry like technology.
Hard Skills in Customer Success
What hard skills does it take for transitioning teachers to be successful in customer success?
For Anya, two crucial points are the ability to calculate value and ROI for customers as well as to understand industry regulations and policies.
It takes upskilling to hop from one industry and set of expectations to another. Do your reading, take courses, and help you help yourself later by understanding not only what ROI is but how to apply it to a specific customer. Don’t just know industry regulations and policies, anyone can recite those, know how they apply to your company and your customers.
Advice for Transitioning Educators
Having made the transition herself, Anya had three pieces of advice for those looking to make this career change:
Think about examples of when they implemented new projects at scale, and to write down their responsibilities in language that can be understood outside of education
Become comfortable with failure
Find the right people to ask for help
“You will never be the expert on everything, especially in an industry that is quite literally changing by the minute. It's actually impossible to be the expert on all parts of your role,” Anya said.
Anya's journey from teaching to customer success is a testament to the power of transferable skills and the importance of finding a company that aligns with your values.
Looking for more?
Listen to Anya’s full podcast episode interview on the Classroom to Boardroom podcast.
Read Another Success Story
Natalie Cataldo, from teacher to professional learning specialist at Paper.
Cynthia Baldacchini, her journey from non-profits to teaching to EdTech.
Donald Benson, from the Classroom to the internet's largest business-for-sale marketplace.
