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

[Anonymous]

I'm in IT and my husband is a HS teacher. We're doing fairly well schedule-wise - I can work from home whenever needed; he is off on school holidays and snow days. Ideally I'd like to go down to a 4 day week as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree somewhat with previous assessments of teaching. I have worked in federal consulting and teaching and I found teaching to be much more family-friendly than consulting. True, the first couple of years were incredibly overwhelming and I was often at school for 12-13 hour days (and I didn't have kids then) but once I got the hang of things, I only needed to work outside of school to grade papers - and that was maybe three weeks/quarter. I also got really good at prioritizing how I used my prep periods once I had kids of my own at home. The vacations were aligned with my kids' vacations, and I had so many more sick/vacation days that I could use if I needed to stay home with one of them.

The only family-friendly benefit of consulting is the ability to work from home - obviously that couldn't be done when I was a teacher. But my project does not allow regular work from home, so I don't get to take advantage of it that often.

You clearly aren't teaching now. And, I might add, you were doing the minimal, which , while we understand a person should not have to take that much work home, but teaching is pretty much an 18 hour a day job. The work never ends. With the new evaluative systems in place, you would be earmarked for "ineffective." Also,my colleagues with kids run out of sick days before January. None carry over for the next year for cumulative days. They have had to use sick bank.

You're right, I stopped teaching a year ago b/c of relocation. However, when I was teaching I certainly was not doing the minimal - I just became more efficient at planning and grading. The longer you teach, the more instructional tools you have in your "toolkit" and it becomes almost intuitive which type of lesson to use based on your instructional goals/student interests and needs. You also have materials to draw on for repurposing. I almost never used the same lesson two years in a row, but it's a lot easier to tweak an existing lesson than generate a new one from scratch. A lot of teachers in my school also wasted their prep periods getting coffee, chatting, etc. I was the same pre-kids and paid for it by working long hours in the evening. Once I had kids, I forced myself to be more efficient/less social at work. I was consistently evaluated "exceeds expectations" in all of my reviews, and was the Department chair for my discipline, and this was in a district consistently ranked in the top 25 in the US by US News and World Report. So no, I would not be earmarked "ineffective." Re: sick days, there must be some variation by district - when I left my previous position, I had almost 100 accumulated sick/vacation days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree somewhat with previous assessments of teaching. I have worked in federal consulting and teaching and I found teaching to be much more family-friendly than consulting. True, the first couple of years were incredibly overwhelming and I was often at school for 12-13 hour days (and I didn't have kids then) but once I got the hang of things, I only needed to work outside of school to grade papers - and that was maybe three weeks/quarter. I also got really good at prioritizing how I used my prep periods once I had kids of my own at home. The vacations were aligned with my kids' vacations, and I had so many more sick/vacation days that I could use if I needed to stay home with one of them.

The only family-friendly benefit of consulting is the ability to work from home - obviously that couldn't be done when I was a teacher. But my project does not allow regular work from home, so I don't get to take advantage of it that often.

You clearly aren't teaching now. And, I might add, you were doing the minimal, which , while we understand a person should not have to take that much work home, but teaching is pretty much an 18 hour a day job. The work never ends. With the new evaluative systems in place, you would be earmarked for "ineffective." Also,my colleagues with kids run out of sick days before January. None carry over for the next year for cumulative days. They have had to use sick bank.

You're right, I stopped teaching a year ago b/c of relocation. However, when I was teaching I certainly was not doing the minimal - I just became more efficient at planning and grading. The longer you teach, the more instructional tools you have in your "toolkit" and it becomes almost intuitive which type of lesson to use based on your instructional goals/student interests and needs. You also have materials to draw on for repurposing. I almost never used the same lesson two years in a row, but it's a lot easier to tweak an existing lesson than generate a new one from scratch. A lot of teachers in my school also wasted their prep periods getting coffee, chatting, etc. I was the same pre-kids and paid for it by working long hours in the evening. Once I had kids, I forced myself to be more efficient/less social at work. I was consistently evaluated "exceeds expectations" in all of my reviews, and was the Department chair for my discipline, and this was in a district consistently ranked in the top 25 in the US by US News and World Report. So no, I would not be earmarked "ineffective." Re: sick days, there must be some variation by district - when I left my previous position, I had almost 100 accumulated sick/vacation days.

I should add...I also got to work every day by 6:45am, pre and post kids (DH was in charge of mornings with the kids). The hour and fifteen minutes before classes started was "sacred" time for me and I got tons of work done while the school was quiet. So maybe that is in the spirit of "taking work home," but I didn't see it that way - I went to work early because I loved my job. Federal consulting, on the other hand, comes home with me every day, there are minimal vacations (don't get me wrong, I am not one of those people who complain about teacher vacations - I just see them as a well-deserved perk of the job) and I have absolutely no accumulated PTO or sick days b/c I have to use all of mine on snow days and childrens' illnesses. So, yeah...teaching is hard but in my experience is more family friendly than either of the two corporate jobs I've held. Also, without a doubt more rewarding. I'm not saying teachers don't work hard - they absolutely do and deserve way more credit than they generally receive from the general public. But certain aspects of the job, IMO, are much more family-friendly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am about to do it all over - speech therapy. Much more family friendly choice than the cutthroat world I just left.

I've thought of this too! Are you going to be taking prerequisites online and then apply for a masters program? Do tell! Good Luck! What field were you in?

[Anonymous]

OP, perhaps you have the skills and interests for all the jobs here, but I suggest you take these tips and find real-world people who do the jobs. Then maybe shadow them at least a few times. I thought about teaching, too, but after a few months of volunteering in the classroom, I realized it was totally not for me. In the end I went back to IT and am very happy, but I had a couple decades' experience in it pre-kids, so I already knew it was a good fit.

You have to consider your own personality and skill set along with pay and family friendliness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am about to do it all over - speech therapy. Much more family friendly choice than the cutthroat world I just left.

I've thought of this too! Are you going to be taking prerequisites online and then apply for a masters program? Do tell! Good Luck! What field were you in?

I'm the PP who is a speech therapist. Try going to one of the open houses at Maryland. They have an excellent program (I didn't go there but hear from friends)
http://www.hesp.umd.edu/content/open-house-dates

Loyola, GW also have programs.

[Anonymous]

I would love to find a 100% teleworking IT position. I'm an analyst. I had the impression they were rare. Is it something where you have to really have been onsite awhile before you get this flexibility?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, perhaps you have the skills and interests for all the jobs here, but I suggest you take these tips and find real-world people who do the jobs. Then maybe shadow them at least a few times. I thought about teaching, too, but after a few months of volunteering in the classroom, I realized it was totally not for me. In the end I went back to IT and am very happy, but I had a couple decades' experience in it pre-kids, so I already knew it was a good fit.

You have to consider your own personality and skill set along with pay and family friendliness.

This is good advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree somewhat with previous assessments of teaching. I have worked in federal consulting and teaching and I found teaching to be much more family-friendly than consulting. True, the first couple of years were incredibly overwhelming and I was often at school for 12-13 hour days (and I didn't have kids then) but once I got the hang of things, I only needed to work outside of school to grade papers - and that was maybe three weeks/quarter. I also got really good at prioritizing how I used my prep periods once I had kids of my own at home. The vacations were aligned with my kids' vacations, and I had so many more sick/vacation days that I could use if I needed to stay home with one of them.

The only family-friendly benefit of consulting is the ability to work from home - obviously that couldn't be done when I was a teacher. But my project does not allow regular work from home, so I don't get to take advantage of it that often.

You clearly aren't teaching now. And, I might add, you were doing the minimal, which , while we understand a person should not have to take that much work home, but teaching is pretty much an 18 hour a day job. The work never ends. With the new evaluative systems in place, you would be earmarked for "ineffective." Also,my colleagues with kids run out of sick days before January. None carry over for the next year for cumulative days. They have had to use sick bank.

You're right, I stopped teaching a year ago b/c of relocation. However, when I was teaching I certainly was not doing the minimal - I just became more efficient at planning and grading. The longer you teach, the more instructional tools you have in your "toolkit" and it becomes almost intuitive which type of lesson to use based on your instructional goals/student interests and needs. You also have materials to draw on for repurposing. I almost never used the same lesson two years in a row, but it's a lot easier to tweak an existing lesson than generate a new one from scratch. A lot of teachers in my school also wasted their prep periods getting coffee, chatting, etc. I was the same pre-kids and paid for it by working long hours in the evening. Once I had kids, I forced myself to be more efficient/less social at work. I was consistently evaluated "exceeds expectations" in all of my reviews, and was the Department chair for my discipline, and this was in a district consistently ranked in the top 25 in the US by US News and World Report. So no, I would not be earmarked "ineffective." Re: sick days, there must be some variation by district - when I left my previous position, I had almost 100 accumulated sick/vacation days.

I should add...I also got to work every day by 6:45am, pre and post kids (DH was in charge of mornings with the kids). The hour and fifteen minutes before classes started was "sacred" time for me and I got tons of work done while the school was quiet. So maybe that is in the spirit of "taking work home," but I didn't see it that way - I went to work early because I loved my job. Federal consulting, on the other hand, comes home with me every day, there are minimal vacations (don't get me wrong, I am not one of those people who complain about teacher vacations - I just see them as a well-deserved perk of the job) and I have absolutely no accumulated PTO or sick days b/c I have to use all of mine on snow days and childrens' illnesses. So, yeah...teaching is hard but in my experience is more family friendly than either of the two corporate jobs I've held. Also, without a doubt more rewarding. I'm not saying teachers don't work hard - they absolutely do and deserve way more credit than they generally receive from the general public. But certain aspects of the job, IMO, are much more family-friendly.

Look at the Charlotte Danielson Framework- you would have upload a ton of artifacts to qualify for exceeds expectation in only ONE of the domains, and much more of the data for others. In a 50 minute planning period per day, it would be IMPOSSIBLE to do that. How about grading 100- 150 papers/essays/projects per day? In your 50 minutes and lunch time? Where does planning come in to play? How about answering 4-12 emails every evening from students and parents about questions, grades, etc. Yes, I can understand that you might have had 100 days of sick leave, but you are obviously older, do not have young kids in day care and stored your days from year to year. This original poster was looking to see what might be a family friendly job...you were not able to acquire a life outside of school until years in, and under new guidelines, I doubt you would be able to do it today. She was looking for a realistic answer. Not sure what you taught, but all of my colleagues from K-8 have to collaborate three times a week at school to plan, and the high school teachers have to track and upload data, and grade heavy assignments, write references, deal with parent complaints about grades. What were you teaching? What grade? Yes, it is true that some teachers may not use the 50 minutes as wisely as you, but it also could be that they know they can't start or finish something in that short time and know it's going home regardless.

[Anonymous]

Dental Hygienist (not dental assistant). Two year community college program or 4 year college degree. Make $50-75/hour right out of school. Can pick and choose hours to suit your needs. If you have kids, you can easily work from 9am-2pm, or a couple days a week. If you want more hours, they are easy to find. Absolutely no responsibility for hiring, managing people, or worrying about overhead. If you work for a good dentist, it is quite rewarding. Downside is that there is little variety in your day to day work and there are plenty of asshole dentists out there. Perfect job for a mom. Don't even consider it as a career if you don't enjoy people...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undergraduate or graduate admissions consulting. $20k for 5 hours of work a week for 8 weeks a year. Obviously also possible to do more if you want it.

How do you find employment in this area? I have helped friends with grad school applications (all got in)- I enjoyed the whole process.

Two paths - have a top tier phd or MBA and have volunteered with the admissions office while you were a student, or b) start working in an admissions office, many of them hire PT readers. Best way to do that? Contact your school and talk to the alumni organization, they (in my experience) love having passionate alum help.

I do have a top tier MBA - if I call my school- would that be a paid PT reader and if so what pay should I expect if accepted? Also- what you described is consulting- is that for the university, an individual seeking admission or a company that helps students with the process? Thanks so much!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am about to do it all over - speech therapy. Much more family friendly choice than the cutthroat world I just left.

Absolutely this! Tons of options for employment (e.g., schools, private practice, self-employment), good money. My old home state, Arizona, was so short staffed that the Dept. of Education there would even pay for your degree in SLP, as long as you worked in the schools for a few years. Im kicking myself for not having done this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dental Hygienist (not dental assistant). Two year community college program or 4 year college degree. Make $50-75/hour right out of school. Can pick and choose hours to suit your needs. If you have kids, you can easily work from 9am-2pm, or a couple days a week. If you want more hours, they are easy to find. Absolutely no responsibility for hiring, managing people, or worrying about overhead. If you work for a good dentist, it is quite rewarding. Downside is that there is little variety in your day to day work and there are plenty of asshole dentists out there. Perfect job for a mom. Don't even consider it as a career if you don't enjoy people...

And plaque. Don't think I could spend my life scraping off funk from people's teeth. Gag.

[Anonymous]

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.

Would not agree with this at all-- I am a software engineer and work 56 hours a week. It really depends on the project. I am getting so burnt out I am thinking of switching professions myself!

That's why I wrote as long as I'm willing to do the tasks other people aren't interested in. There are programming jobs that wouldn't be flexible enough for me. I am not start-up material right now because I want to see my children's games. I also don't want to be the top dog or in management because I'm not excited about being on call. I'm still making up the sleep deprivation from before my youngest would sleep through the night.

With a little thought given to finding a job, programming can be a good choice for a parent who wants flexibility to keep family a top priority.

[Anonymous]

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.