Evelyn Irwanto climbed from a CA$14-an-hour nutrition job to a six-figure tech salary, only to lose that position in a September 2025 layoff. Her response may challenge everything you assume about career ambition.
The Toronto resident’s salary journey reflects a broader shift among burned-out professionals who question whether corporate prestige justifies its personal cost. After nearly a decade of strategic pivots, Irwanto now pursues a portfolio career that blends freelancing with content creation.
Irwanto’s path began with a nutrition degree, which she completed despite long-standing doubts. Her parents, like many in Asian immigrant households, had pushed her toward law, medicine, or business. Nutrition, she admits, served as a quiet rebellion.
That rebellion proved short-lived. Following a 2017 graduation and ten months juggling part-time nutrition associate and serving jobs, she booked a one-way ticket to South America. Four months of backpacking gave her the clarity to abandon nutrition entirely.
“What I owe myself is the chance to pivot,” she realized.
Her reinvention started modestly. A CA$15-an-hour customer service contract came through a local Facebook group. Then a friend referred her to a Big Tech contractor role in credit and collections at CA$22 per hour. She had no relevant background, yet the metrics-driven environment suited her. By late 2019, she earned CA$25.88 per hour with a full-time conversion.
Promotions followed quickly. A supervisor position in 2021 brought CA$81,000 annually. That same year, she transferred into sales operations as a business process specialist at CA$91,700. Her parents, once worried about the nutrition detour, now beamed with pride.
Startup life lured her next. A LinkedIn referral led to a revenue operations manager role at a Series A Toronto company paying CA$100,000 plus equity. Raises pushed her to CA$108,000. She thrived in the chaos of undefined scope and constant problem-solving.
A senior manager offer from a marketing consultancy in 2024 came with a CA$155,000 salary and the title she craved. Burnout arrived within months. Therapy through a leave of absence prepared her return, yet the layoff notice landed the Friday before that return date. Restructuring, the company explained.
Severance bought her runway. In June, her combined freelancing and content creation income surpassed her old monthly corporate salary. Two mid-six-figure job offers arrived around the same time. She declined both.
Money, she now believes, never mattered as much as autonomy. Corporate advancement demanded sacrifices she no longer accepts, like executives who barely see their children. Her portfolio approach offers control that full-time roles never could.
