The Career Audit: Skills, Joy, and Market Value Sweet Spot

The most successful career moves happen at the intersection of three things: what you’re good at, what you enjoy, and what the market values. Most people focus on one or two of these, then wonder why they feel stuck or unfulfilled.

We’ve all learned this the hard way in one way or another. Here’s the framework I wish I’d had for doing a real audit of where you stand and where you might want to go.

The Three-Circle Analysis

Picture three overlapping circles:

What You’re Good At - Your current skills and natural strengths What Energizes You - The work that gives you energy rather than draining it
What the Market Values - Skills and roles that are in demand and well-compensated (whatever that means to you)

The sweet spot is where all three overlap. But getting there requires honest assessment of each circle.

Auditing Your Skills (The “Good At” Circle)

Start with a skills inventory, but go deeper than just listing technologies:

Technical Skills Audit

• Core competencies: What can you do without looking anything up?
• Emerging skills: What are you currently learning or recently learned?
• Depth vs. breadth: Where are you deep specialist vs. generalist?
• Transfer skills: What skills translate across domains or technologies?

Soft Skills Reality Check

This is where most people undersell themselves. Consider:

• Communication: Can you explain complex topics simply? Write clearly? Present to executives?
• Problem-solving: Do you break down complex problems systematically?
• Collaboration: Do people seek you out for projects? Do you resolve conflicts well?
• Learning: How quickly do you pick up new concepts or tools?

This isn’t a job interview, this is for your own guidance so be honest with yourself. Everyone says in a recruiter phone screen that they collaborate well and love it: do you actually? No is ok.

Get External Perspective

Ask colleagues, managers, or mentors: “What would you say are my strongest skills?” Their answers often reveal strengths you take for granted.

Understanding What Energizes You (The “Joy” Circle)

This is the hardest circle to get right because we often confuse what we’re good at with what we enjoy, or what we think we should enjoy with what actually energizes us.

The Energy Audit

For two weeks, track your energy levels:

• After different types of tasks: Does debugging drain you or give you focus? Do meetings energize or exhaust you?
• Working with different people: Do you prefer working alone, in small teams, or large groups?
• Different types of problems: Do you like well-defined problems or ambiguous challenges?

The Time Warp Test

What work makes you lose track of time? When do you find yourself staying late not because you have to, but because you’re genuinely engaged?

Values Assessment

Consider what matters to you:

• Impact: Do you need to see direct results, or are you comfortable with indirect influence?
• Autonomy: Do you prefer independence or structure?
• Growth: Do you want to go deep in one area or explore different domains?
• Recognition: How important is external validation vs. personal satisfaction?

Market Value Assessment (The “Valuable” Circle)

This isn’t just about salary-it’s about understanding where demand and opportunity align.

Industry Trends Research

• Growing sectors: Where is investment flowing? What roles are companies creating?
• Skill premiums: Which skills command salary bumps or competitive offers?
• Future-proofing: What skills are likely to remain valuable as technology evolves?

Network Intelligence

Talk to people in different roles:

• Recruiters: What are they having trouble filling?
• People in target roles: What do they actually spend their time on?
• Industry connections: What problems are companies trying to solve?

The Reality Check

Look at actual job postings in your target areas:

• What skills appear most frequently?
• What experience levels are companies hiring for?
• What’s the career progression like?

Finding Your Sweet Spot

Once you have data in all three circles, look for overlaps:

The Two-Circle Overlaps

• Good + Energizing (but not valued): Hobbies or passion projects
• Good + Valued (but not energizing): Your current job if you’re burned out
• Energizing + Valued (but you’re not good yet): Learning opportunities

The Three-Circle Sweet Spot

This is where you want to aim your career. It might not exist perfectly right now, but it gives you a target for skill development and opportunity seeking.

The Action Plan Framework

Based on your audit, there are several paths forward depending on what’s missing.

If you’re lacking skills, focus on identifying 2-3 high-leverage abilities to develop through learning projects and look for ways to apply them in your current role.

When energy is the issue, seek out more engaging work, reshape your existing role where possible, and explore adjacent positions that might better align with your interests.

If market value is your challenge, research which skills would make you more valuable, consider how to better position your current capabilities, and actively network in higher-value domains or industries.

The key is to be strategic about addressing whichever circle needs the most attention while maintaining progress in the others.

The Iterative Nature

Here’s the thing: this isn’t a one-time exercise. Your skills evolve, your interests change, and markets shift. I recommend doing a lighter version of this audit every six months and a deeper one annually.

The goal isn’t to find the perfect role immediately-it’s to make sure you’re moving in a direction that aligns all three circles over time.

A Personal Example

I fell into management largely by necessity, not active choice (that’s how startups go). I had great mentors and managers of my own so managed to pick things up and figure them out, but as I scaled from an org of 0 to >60 and became less and less involved in the technical aspect of the work, I was driven to this framework.

By taking an honest look at the 3 cicles, I was able to make the decisions that led me from one role to the next and kept me in that sweet spot.

Your path will be different, but the framework is the same: honest assessment, market awareness, and intentional alignment.