If you had to do it all over? What would job would you pick for a mom(family friendly/part time?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:12 -- look into law school administration. Full of recovering lawyers.

Any tips on how to get into law school administration? NP here.

Also interested in admissions.

[Anonymous]

RN here. 3 days or nights a week, actually prefer nights as home when kids get home, and pay is better. Off 4 days week, easy to take vacation if stagger schedule (self-schedule). And it is never a boring day at the office (like my previous before kids job). BSN required, next goal MSN to teach new RNs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have found being a programmer is family friendly, as long as I'm willing to do the tasks other people aren't interested in. In exchange for handling the mundane, I don't live my life for the code so for the most part I work regular hours and am rarely called in for an emergency.

Some people have difficulty handling the isolation. Some people also have difficulty dealing with the overwhelming maleness of the culture.

How does one get into this field? I'm a librarian considering a career change, and would think some of my background would transfer.

For a librarian, I might suggest looking at something like Information Architect, or database work. You probably wouldn't need to tweak your resume all that hard to make it fit those positions. In the mean time, I'd learn or brush up on my SQL and database admin. A local community college probably offers classes. Learning a programming language and some project management skills can also be helpful. Consider certificates vs degree programs. Build a portfolio so you can easily show employers what you know. If possible, I'd jump on any remotely tech work available at my current job, or find volunteer opportunities to help flesh out that resume. One of the benefits of wanting to do tech work is you can search for an open source project that you can benefit. Spend some time on github, find something interesting. That should help you identify what sort of work you think you might like to do as well as start getting you real world experience.

I think this is great advice. I don't have an official background in IT, but have moved into IT project development in my job, and it has been a great fit for me. And I'm now in a half time / 100% telework position, which is perfect for me in terms of family fit and flexibility, though I do realize I have also been very lucky to wind up in this position.

And to speak to a PPs comment about job fit - I think part of why this current job works so well for me is that I am a science major who always enjoyed math, puzzles, etc. Many times my work feels like getting to work on a logic problem all day and that is a perfect fit for me, though I know for some other folks that would be miserable.

Could you be more specific? I have an IT background, but don't know of any firms/projects that offer the pt telework. I'm not in DC, which could be a problem (in person meetings) .

[Anonymous]

Can the school psychologists provide a little mre info? I work full time now in an unrelated field, but psych has always been my interest. I was under the impression that it was very competitve so did not pursue. Can you provide advice on next steps for someone who already has a 4 year degree?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher trainer after spending close to to 20 years as an English teacher.

To all of you who claim you can build on what you've done in the past, you've obviously not had the "luck" we've had with multiple versions of curriculum guides. Furthermore, if you can grade papers during your planning periods, you're not grading for both content AND language. In VA, you've stayed true to the SOLs; in Maryland, we are now using the CC Standards, which are much more rigorous in nature when compared to the CLGs of the past. Each standard can be broken down into multiple mastery objectives. So if you're not teaching at THAT level, you're not teaching, my friend. And if you're ignoring metacognition, you're not teaching.

And remember that not all "labels" are truthful. I've had honors classes that were drastically different, and sadly, many of my on level classes were so low that I had to scaffold in micro-steps. Differentiation is a must! And that takes up much of your planning time. But if it's ignored, you're showing that you believe in a "one size fits all" philosophy.

I've seen "experienced" teachers claim they know what they're doing. There's nothing outstanding about their instruction, and it shows in the level of students' engagement.

OP - If teaching is your thing, don't think it's family friendly. And my hat's off to those who teach pre-K and elementary. As a secondary-trained educator, I do think we have it MUCH easier.

Any intelligent person can be a mediocre teacher. But the truly gifted inspire kids AND get them to learn.

Anyone who says teaching is easy is lazy and unaware.

Anonymous wrote:

Pp here. Yes, I will think. I have been teaching in FCPS for 14 years and I have never heard of Danielson. We do collect data and it can be time consuming, but we also have people in the school who analyze it for us. Also, all high schools in FCPS are on block scheduling so we have 3 90 minutes classes per day. I also don't collect papers from every class every day to grade. There is absolutely no need to do that to accurately assess student progress. We have collaboration each week for an hour and may collaborate with other teachers occasionally, but it is not every day and it is not overwhelming. If there are special ed students in the class, there is usually a special ed teacher in the class or those classes are self-contained. Yes I have 3 preps, but I have also been teaching long enough that I can build on what I have done in the past. All that said, some people are not cut out for teaching - it can be overwhelming if you are disorganized and easily overwhelmed.

BS.

Teaching is one of those jobs where you learn to work smarter not harder. In the first few years you grade every piece of paper and stay up until 3 am grading papers. The longer you teach, the more practical you become in your approach. As a teacher, you should spend more time interacting with students than papers. In other words, you should not spend 5 hours grading papers and just 90 minutes with your class each day. If you are, then you're doing something very, very wrong!

I think teaching is a wonderful family friendly profession. You have the same hours and vacations off as your children. Additionally, you have snow days off with them as well. No hair pulling and gnashing of teeth as you scramble for babysitting when school is closed or delayed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher trainer after spending close to to 20 years as an English teacher.

To all of you who claim you can build on what you've done in the past, you've obviously not had the "luck" we've had with multiple versions of curriculum guides. Furthermore, if you can grade papers during your planning periods, you're not grading for both content AND language. In VA, you've stayed true to the SOLs; in Maryland, we are now using the CC Standards, which are much more rigorous in nature when compared to the CLGs of the past. Each standard can be broken down into multiple mastery objectives. So if you're not teaching at THAT level, you're not teaching, my friend. And if you're ignoring metacognition, you're not teaching.

And remember that not all "labels" are truthful. I've had honors classes that were drastically different, and sadly, many of my on level classes were so low that I had to scaffold in micro-steps. Differentiation is a must! And that takes up much of your planning time. But if it's ignored, you're showing that you believe in a "one size fits all" philosophy.

I've seen "experienced" teachers claim they know what they're doing. There's nothing outstanding about their instruction, and it shows in the level of students' engagement.

OP - If teaching is your thing, don't think it's family friendly. And my hat's off to those who teach pre-K and elementary. As a secondary-trained educator, I do think we have it MUCH easier.

Any intelligent person can be a mediocre teacher. But the truly gifted inspire kids AND get them to learn.

Anyone who says teaching is easy is lazy and unaware.

Anonymous wrote:

Pp here. Yes, I will think. I have been teaching in FCPS for 14 years and I have never heard of Danielson. We do collect data and it can be time consuming, but we also have people in the school who analyze it for us. Also, all high schools in FCPS are on block scheduling so we have 3 90 minutes classes per day. I also don't collect papers from every class every day to grade. There is absolutely no need to do that to accurately assess student progress. We have collaboration each week for an hour and may collaborate with other teachers occasionally, but it is not every day and it is not overwhelming. If there are special ed students in the class, there is usually a special ed teacher in the class or those classes are self-contained. Yes I have 3 preps, but I have also been teaching long enough that I can build on what I have done in the past. All that said, some people are not cut out for teaching - it can be overwhelming if you are disorganized and easily overwhelmed.

BS.

Teaching is one of those jobs where you learn to work smarter not harder. In the first few years you grade every piece of paper and stay up until 3 am grading papers. The longer you teach, the more practical you become in your approach. As a teacher, you should spend more time interacting with students than papers. In other words, you should not spend 5 hours grading papers and just 90 minutes with your class each day. If you are, then you're doing something very, very wrong!

I think teaching is a wonderful family friendly profession. You have the same hours and vacations off as your children. Additionally, you have snow days off with them as well. No hair pulling and gnashing of teeth as you scramble for babysitting when school is closed or delayed.

BS.

Teaching is one of those jobs where you learn to work smarter not harder. In the first few years you grade every piece of paper and stay up until 3 am grading papers. The longer you teach, the more practical you become in your approach. As a teacher, you should spend more time interacting with students than papers. In other words, you should not spend 5 hours grading papers and just 90 minutes with your class each day. If you are, then you're doing something very, very wrong!

I think teaching is a wonderful family friendly profession. You have the same hours and vacations off as your children. Additionally, you have snow days off with them as well. No hair pulling and gnashing of teeth as you scramble for babysitting when school is closed or delayed.

[Anonymous]

Any school librarians out there? How is that field looking these days?

[Anonymous]

I don't recommend pharmacy. It is kind of a dangerous job as people rob for both drugs and money. I have a family member who is a pharmacist and was wire tied, held at gun point and had her car stolen.

Also like lawyers there are too many of them now so it's hard to get a job in the field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:RN here. 3 days or nights a week, actually prefer nights as home when kids get home, and pay is better. Off 4 days week, easy to take vacation if stagger schedule (self-schedule). And it is never a boring day at the office (like my previous before kids job). BSN required, next goal MSN to teach new RNs.

Not going to lie, I'm a bit jealous of that schedule! Can you tell me what the pay is like (in general).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't recommend pharmacy. It is kind of a dangerous job as people rob for both drugs and money. I have a family member who is a pharmacist and was wire tied, held at gun point and had her car stolen.

Also like lawyers there are too many of them now so it's hard to get a job in the field.

I find this hard to believe... she must have been in a really bad neighborhood or something. With the number of pharmacists there are in comparison to how often you hear stories like this (hardly ever!), I wouldn't let this discourage you. Also, there are more areas of Pharmacy than just retail. (And those are some of the jobs that have better schedules!).

And it really isn't hard to find a job in pharmacy, at least not in this area. Not as bad as lawyers yet - but with the addition of so many new pharmacy schools in the US, this may be a bigger issue soon.

[Anonymous]

Lawyer. Can work your own hours at a higher rate than any other hourly job.

[Anonymous]

What about acupuncturist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:RN here. 3 days or nights a week, actually prefer nights as home when kids get home, and pay is better. Off 4 days week, easy to take vacation if stagger schedule (self-schedule). And it is never a boring day at the office (like my previous before kids job). BSN required, next goal MSN to teach new RNs.

I sure do wish I had the stomach to be a nurse. NOT!

[Anonymous]

I would love to hear from any occupational therapists. That career sounds so appealing to me. I'd love to do acquatic therapy with kids. Saw an OT work with a child once in the lab school pool. Or other areas. How do you like your job? Is it a second career for you? How flexible is it? What the is the pay like and how easy is it to find employment? Most importantly, is it super competitive to get an occupational therapy spot in a grad school?

Would love to hear!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can the school psychologists provide a little mre info? I work full time now in an unrelated field, but psych has always been my interest. I was under the impression that it was very competitve so did not pursue. Can you provide advice on next steps for someone who already has a 4 year degree?

It's really only competetive for those seeking a PhD degree, particularly those that are funded by the school with stipends and tuition remission. Much less competetive for Psy.D (often for-profit schools and very expensive so I would avoid them) as well as for specialist level degrees. Ninety percent of school psychologists have the specialist degrees (master's plus 30 credits) which take about 3 years to complete. There are a number of programs offering PhD, Psy.D. and specialist level programs in the area. I would start by contacting these programs in order to get more info about what would best fit your needs.