"Why are you changing careers?" is the one interview question that no amount of polish fixes if the underlying plan is vague. The interviewer is not asking for permission to change fields. They are pricing risk: will your interest last, do you understand the entry point, can you contribute before you finish retraining, and are you applying to this role or to anything that will take you.
The short version: answer in four parts, in about 60-90 seconds — reason, bridge, evidence, commitment. Name one concrete thing pulling you toward the new field, connect two or three skills to requirements the posting actually lists, show one artefact you have already produced in the new direction, and say what you want to own and over what horizon. Then stop talking and let them probe.
The rest of this post is about how to build each part, what the follow-ups look like, and the cases where transferable-skills framing is the wrong opening.
The weakest version of this answer is a list of grievances about the old job. A detailed complaint gives the interviewer a picture of you complaining about them in eighteen months, and it says nothing about whether you understand where you are going.
Source: DEV - interview — Read the full article on the original site ↗