Almost a month ago, I shared something at my blog about doing something that can hopefully help me and my family out with the chores around the house. Unfortunately, we are not successful with it. In some ways, it helped us but it didn’t solve the problem I had – not be stressed out with all the chores at home now that I’m working again, back in the industry.

I guess my realisation this weekend is to strengthen my time management skills to make this work. I’m very fortunate enough that the company  I worked with now – Clio – has a very flexible work time schedule, which makes it easier for a #workingmom or #parent like me to juggle things. We also have the option to work from home which makes it super flexible and awesome.

As my milestone – 1 month – working back in the industry after 2 years ++ being away from it to be a full-time mum, I would like to share my experience for the other mums out there who are thinking to go back to work and are currently scared to do it.

1. Set your career goals and make an action plan.

When seeing my kid adjust well in our new country and especially my kid is in school age I had the strength to put my career back on track and I laid out what I want it to be, what are the things that I need to do now to achieve my goal and set a timeline. The last one I think is super important because being at home it’s easy to loose track of your time. So I said to myself – “I want to become a full-stack web developer within five years.”

2. Continue to upgrade your skills while at home.

Aside from doing a Web Development Bootcamp, I also continue doing some online courses with personal projects while at home. The tricky part here is having the balance of doing these courses and at the same time still making time with my kid and household chores. So I explicitly say that at these time I will have a course to take online but giving my kid an activity to do like arts, books and tv/gadget time.

3. Join meetup events.

One of the things I love here in Vancouver is the availability of the meetup groups for software developers. I’m a very shy person and I’m scared to death with meeting/talking to new people, but since I have my goal I make it work and drag myself to go to these events. The first few events I joined I only stay in one corner and wait for someone to talk to me, it was very awkward, but the more I do it the more comfortable I am. So I started talking and introducing myself. Joining these meetups for me teaches me two important things:

  • Confidence in talking to people.
  • Learning the different companies here in Vancouver and getting a sneak peek of tech office spaces.

4. Be very picky when selecting companies to apply.

I often ask myself afterwards in each meetup events, do I see myself working in that company and that working environment? Aside from checking the company’s website, I also check out glassdoor for company reviews. Additionally, to know if the company’s goal would align to my career goal and my needs, especially are they sensitive/flexible for a working parent.

5. Don’t be discouraged if a door will shut in your face MANY times.

The hardest part me is the thought of being rejected and the rejection of the companies I applied for. I would remember loosing interest in applying again and just feeling bad for myself for days. But later on, I realised that if I will not try to apply because I’m scared that I might be rejected then I will not achieve my goal and at the same time how will I grow if I don’t experience failure. So mums just remember all the rejection is an opportunity for us to grow and learn how to improve ourselves, so brush off that sadness, we can do this!

Cheers!