I am not the typical early career researcher. I am not particularly young; nor is this my first time attending an RDA plenary. I am, however, at an early stage in what I consider to be my third career - working as a PhD researcher at the Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) in the Netherlands. Thanks to the RDA Europe Early Career Researcher grant program, I was able to attend the 13th RDA Plenary in Philadelphia, where I connected with the work of RDA and its members at a deeper level than I have before.