The ceiling of your ambition shouldn't depend on just one thing

I am transitioning career at 32 and trying to learn new skills and flailing as I go about it, the opportunities that I could get is directly proportional to the level of competency I develop. This got me thinking if one is supposed to grind at a low paying job because the pace at which they upskill and develop competency is slow, how can they manage to remain curious, creative and ambitious.

In what other ways can keep their spirit alive and continue to develop their imagination while still stumbling in developing their skills. It has got me thinking about in what other ways, apart from your competencies can your ambition depend on to materialize. Teaching online? Speaking gigs? Workshops? Networking? Mentoring? In what other ways

I think its creating or getting involved in hackathon style of communities that gather to make something useful and meaningful and then share it online, datakind for example. The ceiling of our ambition and creativity then is not just bounded by our jobs and competency but by our ability to connect with as many people as possible and making, sharing something useful and meaningful for them, with them and via them. Which means even if you are stuck in your career, a way to move up may simply be finding avenues to share what you know with other people and make something with them. You choose what format you become comfortable with, but this is what I have realized, all you have to do is connect with people by sharing what you know and what you'd want to work on, both online and offline.