At a career guidance event in Ireland, two professionals prepare to tell students something that formal education rarely teaches: that the winding road is often the most instructive one. Kathryn Mason built a music public relations firm after a stint as a ski instructor abroad, and Sandi Ndebele became a chartered process engineer at a global pharmaceutical company after hosting trivia nights in Melbourne bars. Their stories, unfolding at Higher Options, suggest that the skills gathered in unexpected places have a quiet way of compounding into something durable.