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If you want to start a career, change your career, or spread an idea, a few things will come in the way. These barriers must be studied and overcome if you are to make progress.

• Knowledge: Do you know enough about the domain to be useful? If you want an entry level job, it may be easier, but portraying yourself as qualified when you are not can get you off on the wrong foot. Read extensively and become articulate on the domain.
• Degrees and certifications: Some professions have established education roadmaps to separate the wheat from the chaff. These are not foolproof, but they will ensure you have understood the vocabulary, at the very minimum. Get certified, but don’t bet your career on it, you need real life experience to back it up.
• Small, controlled market: If the market is small, you need to be very, very good to make an impact. It will take years of apprenticeship to break in. Get ready for the grind.
• Attitude: Is your strategy “hit and run?” For example, there is a huge demand for data scientists, but are you in that profession to make a quick buck? Or, are you willing to put in the work to truly become a data scientist?

There are probably more barriers, you can share what you’ve faced in the comments below.

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Prioritization is not easy. The following diagram shows some of the elements that go into prioritization.

Prioritization criteria

Try not to over engineer prioritization for small projects with low cost and obvious benefits. For complex prioritization you will need a model that will simulate the effect of changes. Knowing the difference is key. Being able to explain your prioritization is valuable. Gaining adoption for your prioritization is priceless.