I am an IT professional with 5 years work ex. Marketing has piqued my interest and am exploring whether it makes real sense to change. Based on the info on the web, marketing seems to offer exciting opportunities to people who got a sense of how to persuade people / manage public perceptions / promote an idea / communicate essence of a brand or benefits of products.I consider myself good in the above areas based on extraordinary performance in the below roles. These roles were outside my core responsibilities and i had engaged purely out of enthusiasm. The big question is "Do these successes make me a good fit for marketing jobs ?". In other words, "Are the tasks involved in these roles representative of tasks in marketing at least to some extent" ?

1- Head of Marketing campaign for a week long technology festival in 2010 @ my workplace. The festival engaged about 1000 people. The Campaign included designing posters, banners, email communications, roadshows, email based teaser events , outdoor teaser events and newsletters. The Success of the fest was well attributed to the successful marketing campaign. I had headed a similar campaign for another week long back in 2009.

2 - Founder of a points based system to continuously (not just during appraisal times) remind employees of their appraisal goals and encourage even baby steps taken towards their goals. The system did not practically workout but the idea was very well received by the management.

3 - Head Election campaigner for my gang in students union election. Had single handedly planned the election campaign, sold the campaign ideas to my gang, executed the plan flawlessly and successfully got our candidate win (against a very powerful candidate) in a long drawn, fiercely fought election.

4- Besides, i had engaged regularly in planning & organizing college cultural festivals, technical festivals , fun events and slide shows.