Career Change

Jikira · 2020-04-23T07:09:08+00:00

Technical consultant here. I have been s software engineer, business analyst, and information analyst at my current position. I understand your fear completely I had the same goal up until my junior and realized...shit I am not a career women. I will have to say IT sector can be pretty demanding, however you can handle by setting expectations. For example a lot of my coworkers pull ridiculous hours because they decide to add an extra feature or two because they can’t say no to the client and they are in some kind of silent competition. Do not compete. Do not compare yourself to your peers. Complete your task and only your tasks especially if you are doing agile. You should not have to complete more stories than what was giving to you at the beginning of the sprint. This took a lot of stress off of me and helps to balance my work and life. I also don’t really care for a promotion my salary is good and with my partner salary we make well over 6 figures. We have no kids and working to pay off our loans. Life is pretty stress free, so all the extra energy I have I put into supporting my partner and working on my side businesses.

On intelligence you do not have to be the smartest all you need to do is be able to complete the task. Ask questions early and often. If your co workers have an issue with answering your questions that is a problem with that particular team. But I have never experienced where nobody would answer my questions. Be a team player and pull your own weight and most people will be eager to help you. People in IT tend to love learning and helping people is the best way to test your knowledge.

Doing this strategy has worked so much for me. SideNote Business analysts role are imo the easiest mentally but the most demanding time wise. My less time consuming jobs were my front end developer roles. Back end could be time consuming when I had a feature I could not implement. Devops is my personal favorite it can be hectic when you are on call or when something fails in production, but if you are detailed oriented and can retain a lot of information. I think it is very rewarding and can allow a good work life balance.

I am doing consulting so before the virus I did a lot of traveling and my bf who I met in college was happy to move across the country. I would not recommend consulting if you actively looking.

companyllc · 2020-04-23T13:02:19+00:00

I'm an engineer in a male-dominated industry. Here are some random thoughts I hope you (and other potential STEM young ladies) find helpful.

STEM careers with flexible work and great benefits do exist and it's possible to have a good work-life balance. Yes you can be the ball-busting STEM HBIC if you want, but you don't have to.

You could also be the woman who has a baby, takes 6 months off paid and another 6 unpaid with full benefits, and then comes back part-time two days a week. Like me :) Not every company is like that, but you just don't have that kind of flexibility in most fields.

STEM classes, careers, companies, networking events, etc. are great places to meet a husband that is dedicated enough to get a STEM degree and can likely provide well financially. Most female engineers at my company married another engineer they met in school. You don't necessarily need an older man to be supported well if that is a concern of yours, a vetted fellow computer science student will grow into that income.

Even outside of STEM events, just having a STEM degree can get you some credibility and respect when you first start dating someone. I know men aren't romantically into your degree, but many are interested in the status and respect it brings and the dedication required to achieve it.

I personally have found treatment at the chemical plant I work at to be very respectful. I have zero complaints in that regard despite working primarily with men for 10 years, although that's just my experience. Many STEM fields have come a LONG way in the past 30 years and I have not heard any complaints from my engineer friends at other companies, either. If anything I feel like I have an unfair advantage as a female in terms of hiring and promotions. Large companies have internal women's mentoring and support groups.

STEM careers that pay well allow you to "throw money" at problems so you can focus on other things that you value, like embracing your femininity and keeping a warm home life. For instance, I can pay for a nanny and housekeeper to keep on top of things in the home while I am working. Yes it would be nice to do these things myself, but I can pay someone to do them and still make good money. Then I can spend time with family when I am home and cooking fun meals, instead of cleaning toilets.

You mention how you would like to travel, get plastic surgery, going out...all that can be difficult to do without making good money. A more traditional feminine job like teaching likely won't support that lifestyle.

My husband and I have the same degree but I make almost 50% more than him. We still make it work and it has not created issues for us. If you keep the right attitude at home, having a "career" and making good money won't emasculate your husband.

I can't speak for tech specifically, but I know in engineering there are LOTS of options career-wise. You can do a standard 9-to-5 office job, you can have crazy work hours in operations at a production facility, you can get a cushy government job, etc. In addition, large companies can give you opportunities to pivot into marketing, corporate learning, or something else you might be more interested in. You have flexibility to do what you're interested in and what you can handle based on priorities. The engineering degree just gets your foot in the door.

I know a lot of this is more general or from my engineering experiences, but I hope some of this is helpful for you! <3

Kara__El · 2020-04-23T03:49:57+00:00

There are options. There are many work from home STEM jobs and you could easily teach in most US states. You're not trapped. The good thing about STEM is that there are a lot of paths. Consider another one.

ironsoul99 · 2020-04-23T15:04:30+00:00

I’m going to keep this nice. STEM is not for everyone, but if you find it intriguing I think you should keep with it. It is very rewarding (especially monetarily) and there aren’t that many other degrees with the same level of return for the investment. Don’t be scared about those stories you hear about how women are treated. It’s not that bad in reality, nobody really cares that you’re a girl unless you’re good looking and nice, then you might get special treatment. There will be a couple of people who underestimate your abilities based on good looks but they are usually easy to deal with because they are simple minded. If you’re not up to the challenge, sure, you can probably marry rich. I just don’t think that’s the best goal to have, you’re taking a large risk with that mindset. And when marriages don’t work out, women who marry rich are usually in a predicament where they have no work experience or valuable degrees. It is perfectly possible to be a 9-5 working woman and take care of your family. I don’t know where you got this notion from... lots of people work and don’t neglect (“throw money”) at their children or hire housekeepers. That’s what’s awesome about being a woman, we can have it all. And even without kids or a household to hold down, as young women, when work ends at 5 it ENDS. It’s not like being a student and going to class all day, then having to study all night. After work you can be social and have the lifestyle you want.

HutuZulu1234 · 2020-04-23T18:08:38+00:00

Hi. So I myself am going into teaching, after doing a lot of soul searching on what I really want to do and enjoy most, I realized it was working with little kids in schools.

However, before this, I explored different jobs. One of them that I fell into was being a brand ambassador for an affiliate of NetSuite, going to conferences and talking about the tech to companies. I wasn't hustling for sales, I was just paid for showing up, talking to people, scanning badges, looking pretty, doing the demonstrations, etc. It was nice because there wasn't the pressure of making the sale. I had a friend who got me into it. It did require some travel, but the companies paid for your hotel, food etc. This job has paid more than anything I have done (like the money I made in a 4 days of work would cover my rent/expenses for the month. I was shocked this was a real job lol) and all the conferences were full of men in tech fields.

With your background, I would suggest looking into that. The specific company I worked for was affiliated with NetSuite, but basically there are people who will hire you to just go to conventions and talk about tech to companies who want to potentially buy it. I learned from others that you can make a lot of money doing that job, it just wasn't for me--but the money was good.

I didn't want to do it because I don't like travel and honestly didn't care about technology. But this might be something you should look into. It is similar to being a 'brand ambassador' but at a higher level if that makes sense. Hope this helps. Might be an option to consider?

2020-04-23T05:44:15+00:00

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cornycatlady · 2020-05-09T07:44:01+00:00

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cornycatlady · 2020-04-23T04:09:30+00:00

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Title	Career Change
Author	cornycatlady
Upvotes	6
Comments	18
Date	April 23, 2020 3:45 AM UTC (6 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/RedPillWomen
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/RedPillWomen/comments/g6foxe/career_change/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/RedPillWomen/career-change.655302 https://theredarchive.com/post/655302

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