Comment Why just Dads? (Score 2, Insightful) 943
I'm an avid Slashdot reader but have never been incited to post until now.
My story is the complete reverse of what is being solicited.
I was a 'stay-at-home' mom of a 2-year-old and a -3-month-year-old (6 months pregnant) when my husband developed a severe mental illness. My divorce was sudden and my prospects were bleak since I had a master's degree in a field that was non-lucrative, I had no prospects for child support (my ex was rendered unemployable) and little or no social security since he had been a freelancer.
I moved my small family to CA just after the peak of the dot-com boom to be near extended relatives, too a good, hard, look at the world to see what industry would pay enough to support a family on a single income, would have the flexibility to allow for working at home or if extra hours are needed could be done in the evening while children slept, and which would reward self-starters rather than (or along with) those with formal degrees.
IT was the answer. Specifically programmming.
I found an employer who would hire a determined, untrained woman (job interview question: 'Can you write an ASP site', answer: 'Never heard of it, but give me a month and I'll have one written'.
And that started my career as a working mom. I am now an R&D programmer - I would call myself an architect-in-training - for a good sized program. I train and review code written by others but always seem to find something new to explore that would benefit the company I work for. My employers understand that I require a flexible schedule but they apparently seem to find that this relationship is worthwhile for them.
I entered the field for Machiavelian reasons. What I didn't expect was how much I would enjoy this career path - how much quality-of-life I would have when each day I wake up to learn something new or have the opportunity to teach someone else how to use what I've learned, all to benefit other people - users of our software, the company, our customers.
My family is growing well. My at-the-time not-born-yet daughter is now 7 years old. I have remarried to someone in the industry - a CTO with a background in network administration.
The IT lifestyle give me the flexibility to be a mom and help support my family. While this is not a 'magical' quality of the IT industry, intrinsic to it in some mysterious way and no other industry, it is the reason why I chose this career path and it worked out for me (with up-front negotiation with my employers) extremely well.
My story is the complete reverse of what is being solicited.
I was a 'stay-at-home' mom of a 2-year-old and a -3-month-year-old (6 months pregnant) when my husband developed a severe mental illness. My divorce was sudden and my prospects were bleak since I had a master's degree in a field that was non-lucrative, I had no prospects for child support (my ex was rendered unemployable) and little or no social security since he had been a freelancer.
I moved my small family to CA just after the peak of the dot-com boom to be near extended relatives, too a good, hard, look at the world to see what industry would pay enough to support a family on a single income, would have the flexibility to allow for working at home or if extra hours are needed could be done in the evening while children slept, and which would reward self-starters rather than (or along with) those with formal degrees.
IT was the answer. Specifically programmming.
I found an employer who would hire a determined, untrained woman (job interview question: 'Can you write an ASP site', answer: 'Never heard of it, but give me a month and I'll have one written'.
And that started my career as a working mom. I am now an R&D programmer - I would call myself an architect-in-training - for a good sized program. I train and review code written by others but always seem to find something new to explore that would benefit the company I work for. My employers understand that I require a flexible schedule but they apparently seem to find that this relationship is worthwhile for them.
I entered the field for Machiavelian reasons. What I didn't expect was how much I would enjoy this career path - how much quality-of-life I would have when each day I wake up to learn something new or have the opportunity to teach someone else how to use what I've learned, all to benefit other people - users of our software, the company, our customers.
My family is growing well. My at-the-time not-born-yet daughter is now 7 years old. I have remarried to someone in the industry - a CTO with a background in network administration.
The IT lifestyle give me the flexibility to be a mom and help support my family. While this is not a 'magical' quality of the IT industry, intrinsic to it in some mysterious way and no other industry, it is the reason why I chose this career path and it worked out for me (with up-front negotiation with my employers) extremely well.
