Is "Career Journey" a bad heading to use on an ATS resume?

It is risky, so it is better to change it to "Work Experience". Creative headings like "Career Journey", "My Story" or "Where I've Made an Impact" may look friendly, but software that looks for familiar section names may not link them to your job history. When that happens, your jobs can end up in the wrong field or be missed in a profile summary.

A human reader may also need an extra second to work out what the section is. Keep the personality in your achievements instead.

Example of a simple fix:

• "Career Journey" becomes "Work Experience"
• "What I Know" becomes "Skills"
• "Where I Studied" becomes "Education"
• "Wins" becomes "Key Achievements"

Creative headings are not banned, and a resume will not be thrown out for one unusual word. The point is that a plain heading costs you nothing, while a clever one adds a small risk with no real benefit. If you are applying for a design or marketing role and want to show personality, do it through a well-written summary, strong results in your bullets and a link to your portfolio.