Hi everyone. I am  BE(Mechanical) + MBA(marketing and Systems) with 9+ years in traditional marketing. Due to a road mishap in 2017 I had to quit my job and presently doing tuition jobs at home. Can I move on to digital marketing at this age (36)? Would be my past experience be of any help? Your reply would be of immense help. Thanks in advance.

Hello, Let me break this thing into three parts. 1st if you are looking to transform your career into Digital Marketing you can do that any age it should not be a problem. 2nd the salary offered in this segment for starting is low if you go for a job at a Digital Marketing agency. But if you can get into an organization where you can utilize your marketing as well as Digital Marketing knowledge then the pay will be very good. 3rd The question is how to learn? If you like learning by yourself, you can watch YouTube, learn through udemy, udacity etc. You can also join a Digital marketing institute. read less

Hello Avijit, Great that you asked this question. I want to answer you from from 8+ years in digital and training/mentoring 1000+ students in their digital marketing career. Your experience in traditional marketing is a vital asset to give you a leap in your digital marketing career. In 2019, digital marketing is no more a separate secluded initiative of large companies. Digital is now an innate, inclusive and in-house initiative of the marketing department. Marketing is critical. It can make or build a brand overnight. So experience is highly valued here — leverage yours. A garnishing of modern digital marketing knowledge coupled with your nine-year marketing hands-on expertise makes you an excellent pick for any organisation. Digital is omnipresent, so no matter what your previous industry is, you can enter that industry with your digital skill.Now coming to more specifics: you seem to be preferring work from home jobs. In such a case, digital is the best possible career option. You can earn from affiliate marketing, social media management, content creation/management, SEO, Digital assets audits etc. These are the works that SMEs mostly outsource from freelancers. A quick search in Naukri or LinkedIn will pull up a lot of such job posting. You can gauge the market demand from that. But if you are looking for a reliable and long-term foundation, I would suggest, learn digital marketing, have some essential work to put up in your CV/portfolio and apply to digital agencies. All digital marketing agencies are now transiting to an all in one marketing agency. They need an experienced marketing professional who can integrate the digital and traditional teams. It is more of a strategy and planning role which requires knowledge of both types of marketing. And if you are very, very driven, very good at digital, you can also work forever as a freelancer. But I don't want to give you false promise, earning a fat check as a freelancer is very challenging. It will take you a minimum of 2-3 years to establish yourself in the market. Given by your age, my final suggestion would be to learn digital marketing and join an agency as a project manager/strategy and planning person. Agency because in agencies you would learn a lot and in 2 years you can switch to an established brand as marketing manager. I am not sure if I have resolved your query. Career guidance has to be very personalised. My views are for a person who is having a career break and looking for a new entry into the job market with digital marketing skills.P.S. you can learn digital for free. Just explore the free courses form Facebook, Google, HubSpot. And you will be in a position to decide if this is for you. Also, if you are willing to work from home only, stock trading can be a great option. I hope this helps. Good luck. read less