Career Rediscovery for a Grandma – Back to College in her 40s

The man who is too old to learn was probably always too old to learn.”
~Henry S. Haskins

  • I got to know Susan at a women’s discussion forum and was impressed when she informed us that after working for around 15 years in an office job, she is heading back to college – she’s in her 40s and a grandma, that’s what makes it different!Hello Susan, please tell us about yourself and your present career status?

    I’m in my late 40s and I have three wonderful daughters. Also, I have two beautiful granddaughters. We all live in St. Peters, Missouri. I’ve worked for a construction company for fifteen years; it’s been an office job all along. I do the Payroll, Accounts Payable and Receivable, all General Ledger updates and changes, reconcile all the bank accounts, update and maintain and backup computers all on a regular basis. There is another woman that works part time with me so I do most everything myself. I really like my job but it’s a small family owned business. There’s really nothing else for me to do other than what I do.You informed us that you are going for a bachelor’s degree in IT in late forties– it is such a commendable step! I wish you the very best.
    How did you make up your mind on going back to college and what helped you in arriving at the decision?

    I’ve had a fascination with computers for years but I never really thought much about it. A year ago this summer I signed up with St. Charles Community College for an Accounting class. I did this for my own information. I wasn’t sure how good my accounting skills really were since I fell into my current position with no formal training. I received an ‘A’ in that class and the Business class I took last fall.

    It’s been a few years since I was in school so I didn’t remember a lot of stuff like geometry, algebra or verbs. I found that I really enjoy learning. Some of the classes I took were online or distance learning classes. For some reason I always thought taking online classes would be easier. It’s not at all; as a matter of fact it’s quite the opposite. You have to use a lot of self discipline because the classes require quite a bit of reading. It was nice to be able to take an exam at midnight if necessary though. At my house, sometimes that’s the only quiet time you get. The class that I just completed was Data Processing. Most of it I knew already but the last three weeks of class we worked on programming in Visual Basic. I thought it was great. Programming was something I had no experience with. It opened a new door.

    I’ve been going back and forth between Business Administration and IT. I finally decided fifteen years of business experience was enough. I want to do what I want to do not what I should. I don’t know if I can even find a job in IT when I get finished with school but it’s not really about the job, it’s more about what I like and enjoy and mostly what I’m good at. I have a natural ability, I guess you would call it, to use and fix computers. I enjoy them and when they don’t work properly I can usually figure out why, with no formal training at all.

    How are you feeling today as you plan on a new career?

    I’m very excited and a little nervous. I’ve done very well at the Community College and I hope I can do just as well at the university I’ve chosen.
    The program I’ve applied for is in an accelerated format for working adults. The classes are taken in clusters of three similar subjects for a total of 9 credit hours per cluster. The clusters are in quarters rather than semesters so you can take 4 clusters in a year to achieve 36 credit hours in a year. I just hope it’s not too accelerated and that I can keep up. I have no idea what I’ll do when I’m finished. I guess I’ll just wait to see what happens.

    Is your family supportive of your decision? How do you feel it is important for a career woman to have a support group?

    For the most part everyone is supportive.
    My oldest daughter has made some bad choices in her life and is trying very hard to turn things around. I’m very proud of the choice she made, she is now working towards her degree in Child Development. I know she would not have made this choice if not for the fact that she saw me working so hard to get where I want to be. This past semester we took the same level math class. It was pretty exciting to be able to help each other when one of us had a problem understanding something.

    My second daughter went to cosmetology school right out of high school. She has been very supportive and said she really admires me for what I’m doing. She is also looking into going back to school for a degree in teaching. She said I have inspired her to follow her dream of being a teacher.

    The youngest supports me but it’s hard for her sometimes because it takes away from some of the time we get to spend together. I make sure we still have plenty of time together to do things we enjoy. She is doing great in school also, with straight A’s through third grade. Sometimes we even do our homework together.

    Yes, it’s important for a career woman to have some kind of support. Whether it is a group or family you need something. It’s very hard to balance your life between work and family as it is, then when you throw school in there too. Well, it does get to be a bit much sometimes. There are good days and bad days just like with anything else. There has to be a way to vent the frustration and someone to tell you to hang in there, it will be alright. If you don’t have that it would be very easy to give up and just carry on with life the way it was and then always wonder what could have been. You have to have a strong will and determination, with a lot of support to succeed.

    What advice would you give to women who are in mid-career crisis and thinking about re-joining college or other further studies?

    My advice would be to go for it. If there is something you have wanted to do but think you are too old or could never afford, you couldn’t be more wrong. If you don’t like where you are, the only one that can change it is you. The first class I walked into at the Community College, I can’t begin to tell you how bad the butterflies were in my stomach but I did it. I thought for sure I would be the oldest one there but I wasn’t. You would be surprised how many older people are going back to school. I know I have been. I think when you get to a certain age you begin to wonder about what you are doing and if it’s what you want to do for the rest of your life. As for the financial end there are many grants and low interest loans that are easy to get even if you don’t have the greatest credit history. You are never too old to learn new things and can never learn too much.

Way to go Susan!
I loved it when you said:
You are never too old to learn new things and can never learn too much.

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 2 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”
~ Moshe Arens

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Women Leaving the IT Workforce – On the Rise


Women accounted for 16.6 percent of all network and computer systems administrator positions in 2006, down from 23.4 percent in 2000. At the management level, the imbalance persists. Among computer and IS managers, for example, 27.2 percent were women in 2006.” (Source InfoWorld)

While women represent almost 60 percent of the workforce, they account for only a little more than 32 percent of the IT workforce. Addressing women’s under-representation not only will help tackle the anticipated IT worker shortage but will help foster a diverse workforce, a cornerstone of both innovation and economic development”, says Eileen Trauth, professor at Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology.
The researchers also discovered that women’s career choices are motivated by a number of factors, and those shift and change throughout their careers. This reinforces the researchers’ conclusion that static hiring policies won’t appeal to women, Trauth added.

Updated November 2010:

According to an article in HireStrategy: In 2008, women held only 25 percent of all professional IT-related jobs, according to the Colorado-based National Center for Women and Information Technology’s report, “Women in IT: The Facts.”

The Reasons for leaving

Are women leaving IT industry only because of the problems they foresee in managing their work-life balance issues, especially as in most competitive technology companies the working hours are on the rise and the work becomes more demanding for a working woman or a mother if she has to be at work longer hours? That assumption might not be true, a report released May 14, 2007 stands to shift this perception by drawing attention to the fact that tech workplaces may not be the most favorable environments:
What was very intriguing was that such a large percentage of women said that they didn’t find their organizational climates to be very inviting to women. They’re saying that they don’t feel that their voices are heard and it causes them to question whether this is an environment that they wish to stay in,” Patricia Schaefer, president of Compel and co-author of the report, told eWEEK.

Sure enough the reasons for leaving are many, which ones do you agree with?

  • Women still find the technology field highly male dominated and often struggle during moving up the ladder
  • Few women in higher positions in the IT industry is one of the reasons women feel de-motivated in their career paths
  • Lack of smart networking skills often results in lower promotion rates
  • Misconceptions from the school-going years that men are mode adept and dominant in technology sector

Maybe not all of the above are true but highly likely that most are. Which ones do you agree with, appreciate your comments!

What can be and is being done to Attract Female Interest and Contribution to the Tech World

In addition to addressing issues related to why women are leaving the IT industry it is important to attract and educate school going girls on science and technology related subjects. If the interest is shown from the school going age, it is highly likely that they would be more attracted to pursue it as a profession in future. The concept of an online IT degree possibility can also be introduced in these essential formation years.

Some of the organizations that are helping school-going girls and women in this direction are:

  • SAGE, based in Sacramento, CA, is devoted to the encouragement and empowerment of middle-school and high-school girls in pursuit of careers in computer-related technology, life sciences, engineering, science, math and law.
  • The Global Alliance for Diversifying the Science and Engineering Workforce is a collaborative initiative of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); Women in Engineering Programs & Advocates Network (WEPAN); and the Association for Women in Science (AWIS).
    Its mission is to support efforts to diversify the global engineering and science workforce, to increase the role and participation of women in the science, math, engineering and technology (SMET) workforce worldwide and to support other areas of diversity, including social groups, ethnicity, age, discipline, languages, and cultures.
  • Women in Technology International WITI’s mission is to empower women worldwide to achieve unimagined possibilities and transformations through technology, leadership and economic prosperity.
  • The Society of Women Engineers also devotes their efforts to encouraging young women in the fields of Maths, Science and Technology. They have even started a national (US) tour called, “WOW! That’s Engineering.” These are hands-on events for middle-school aged girls to learn that science and engineering can be fun and interesting. It goes back to catching the girls at a young age and showing that they are perfectly capable and needed in these career paths. Their web site is http://www.swe.org/ . (Thanks to Krystal for the information on SWE)

For more information on websites and organizations working towards empowering women in the Science and Technology fields, see Women-Related Web Sites in Science/Technology.

 

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Live As If You Don’t Need a Vacation – Guest Article

A balanced life seems to be a tall order these days. A perfectly balanced life is, in fact, unattainable. But step back a minute and think about why balance is worth pursuing at all. For me, the answer is that balance equates with happiness – far more than the fool’s gold we call money, power, or prestige. And it doesn’t take perfect work/life or self/family or any other type of balance to actually get to happiness. Rather, it takes good-enough balance. What does this level of balance look like? My favorite description is the Vacation Test.

Pretend you have a vacation coming up. Not a trip to your uncle’s funeral or anything else that is considered hard work or stressful. This is a relaxing trip or an adventure you have planned. Now, what is your mindset as your departure date gets closer? Is it ‘I’m so excited to be going to Serenity Island’ or it is ‘I need this trip to Serenity Island so much’? If your life is generally balanced, a vacation is a source of extra fun – a way to relax in new surroundings, see another culture, explore nature, try something new. It is not a reset button. If you can live day in and day out without needing a vacation, you are living the type of balance I’m talking about – and I’m betting you’ll be pretty close to happy.

How do you get to this type of balance? By not letting any one area of your life encroach on time or energy that you want to give to another area. I like to think of my life as divided into four general domains – breadwinning (career and job), housework (chores and home maintenance), childraising (if you have children) and recreation (fun, mental/physical/spiritual self-care, relaxation, connecting with partner/friends). If your job causes you to miss important time with your kids and with your husband or partner, something’s out of balance. If you’ve downsized your career to a level that doesn’t bring you satisfaction because you’re home raising your children, you’ve got a harder road to happiness at the moment. If you’re doing a double-shift of housework each evening after a full day at work and with the kids, there’s no time left for your own fun.

For every action, there is a consequence. Balance comes when you find the right mix of these four domains within yourself and together with your family (partner and kids). Getting there takes the courage to let go of society’s and your own expectations – such as specific achievements at work, do-it-all mothering, a perfectly kept home, or a promotion to a high-title job with big paychecks and even bigger time commitments.

Good enough is good enough. Don’t take a vacation from your life – give yourself a chance for happiness on any ordinary day instead.

-Amy Vachon

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Amy Vachon is the co-founder of EquallySharedParenting.com, a website devoted to parents who balance their lives by sharing equally in all aspects of work and family.
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The Mom Entrepreneur at the Start-up Phase – Accelerate with Guidance and Learning

If you are an aspiring mom entrepreneur and are wondering how to proceed with your business plan, then this is an article for you.

The start-up phase is the time when you realize that there are so many new things you have to learn –right from the business plan to the financial projections and sales and marketing techniques. Yes, you must know all this. But instead of feeling overwhelmed with the information overload and the lack of it, the best way I can suggest is to look for a mentor, a person who has been through this phase. By learning from others, you might accelerate this phase which often drives the entrepreneurs in self-doubt and the fear of lack of knowledge on starting a new venture.

What you can do now:

  • Find a mentor to help answer your questions.
    A mentor could be someone you know who is already a Mommy Entrepreneur or a professional entrepreneurial coach to be your partner in your path to entrepreneurship.
  • Have a support group.
    Involve your spouse or close family members and friends who you feel could provide you with the much needed encouragement during this phase. Be with people who inspire you, read material that gives you the motivation. And remember, the main support group you can have is yourself. Believe in yourself, in your dreams and have faith, if the external support group fails to provide you with the strength you need, your internal faith should never falter.
  • Be ready to learn!
    Maybe the legal aspects and preparation of contractual agreements might feel daunting at first, but overcome all with a strong determination and clear planning on learning and assimilating this knowledge. Once you know it all seems easy. There is abundant information online on how to make a business plan and how to foresee financial projections, research those and ask those who have already been there. Never undermine the importance of a good research and asking questions to those who can help. Persistent determination and hard work will get you wherever you want to go.
  • Organize yourself.
    Equip yourself with all the required tools and software you might require for your business, however, do not go overboard with overloading yourself with everything you find relevant. Start with the basics you can always buy more software, hardware and furniture as need arises.

And yes, don’t lose faith, sometimes things take longer time than you would have anticipated.

You can’t overestimate the need to plan and prepare. In most of the mistakes I’ve made, there has been this common theme of inadequate planning beforehand. You really can’t over-prepare in business!
Chris Corrigan

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How to Clarify your Career Goals

Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal.
– Elbert Hubbard
Consider these two questions. If you are looking forward to identifying your goals these are the two essential basic questions that you have to ponder on. It is not easy to arrive immediately to the answers, but the quest to finding the solutions and musing over their interpretations is worth the effort.
  • What are your personal goals?
  • What are your career goals?

How different are the two answers? When exploring at depth, do you see a correlation between these two answers?

Sure enough, they could be different, but in true essence they should not be. The answers to the above questions give you a broader outlook on where you want your career to be and how you want your future career to shape up. When you combine your personal goals and career goals you can arrive at a more satisfying career and job than when you judge them as two separate concepts.

In the short-term answer these questions – again honestly and with some insight:

  • Is this the job or career you want to be in?
  • Are you using your skills effectively and to your satisfaction?
  • Does the present job / career inspire you?
  • Do you aspire for more success and contentment at work?
  • Would you work better in a different work environment?

When you go through this process of questioning yourself in order to find the right answer, you are well on your way to analyzing your present career health. And, thus in the process of finding a path to a healthier future career.

Stop what you are doing now and spend time to investigate what you want to do in future. Make short-term and long-term goals, your short-term goals must be such to move you towards your long-term dreams of a satisfying career. The answers will come once you are clear on your goals on what you want to do. Don’t consider it a small step or a quick answer; most of us go through our whole lives without even taking time to question, let alone finding the answer to this ever important question of our lives. Don’t just keep doing what you are doing right now and be in waiting to expect a different result.
As the saying goes, “If You Always Do What You’ve Always Done, You’ll Always Get What You’ve Always Got

Stop, think, take charge of your career, but clarify your goals first.

When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it.
– W. Clement Stone

 

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Work-Life Balance – as it means to others

Some tips as it comes from renowned professionals and career women from around the world.

Slowing Down is Important
In a work-life balance speech by Maria Shriver, California’s first lady says, “Follow your passion but slow down.” This advice comes, she said, “after operating my life at a thousand miles an hour.”
She’s now trying to live her life in the present. “What I’m trying to do,” she said, “is not do a lot of stuff like this.”

Get Creative and be Strong
Stephen Covey asks all to be creative, to be strong on what you want and ready to adapt. See Stephen Covey talk about work-life balance here http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=5743489

Meditation helps achieve Balance
Deepak Chopra, acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest leaders in the field of mind body medicine, saysRegular practice of the meditation technique known as Primordial Sound Meditation helps establish inner quietness in life, providing access to creativity and enabling us to make life-affirming choices.”
Meditation is a vital cornerstone of Chopra Center teachings. Meditation has been proven to reduce stress, lessen anxiety, and bring balance into work-life.

Reducing your Work Hours does not mean Working Inefficiently
As much as cutting back on your work hours can help in achieving more balance in your life, it also cuts back on the stress that we build up by working long hours and spending less time with family. Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of Families and Work Institute, says, “Meet with your manager and ask to have metrics to judge your performance. In other words, help your boss see that hours don’t equal performance.

Learn to say “No”
When work overpowers family life, or even vice versa, learning to say “no” to the stress builders is essential to obtain peace and improve efficiency. Beth DuPree, CEO and medical director of the Comprehensive Breast Care Institute at DSI of Bucks County, told a group of business women, “The tiny word (no) is important to achieve balance in life.”

Related Post:
In the Quest of a Satisfying Life and Career

Now since we all agree by what these professionals say, what does work-life balance mean to you or how are you best achieving it today?

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Some Cool Statistics – Future Jobs / Careers / People and the Possibilities

Worth a look, if you haven’t already -
Shift Happens Sideshow Presentation

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Showing Appreciation at Work

When talking about showing appreciation at work, it is assumed that we must be talking about the employer, or the manager praising or acknowledging the employee.

Though appreciation and acknowledgement is an essential aspect of management feedback and helps in maintaining a healthy employee-employer relationship, employees must also use this essential skill and etiquette at work with co-workers and managers.
What are the immediate benefits that you get out of acknowledging and thanking a deserving work?
You build a good reputation get in the good books of your co-workers and manager. Even when working with difficult people, a small positive gesture from your side can have a pleasant effect making your workplace a better place.

Show appreciation to your mentors in the company and those co-workers who have been of help either helping you writing a code for the project, or taking care of your work load when you were away on a long break.

Some ways to show appreciation or offering a helping hand to your colleagues:

  • Ask them about their work load. Is there some way you could help them if you had a few spare hours?
  • If your colleague needs feedback on a forthcoming presentation in a company expo or other meetings, spare a few minutes to earnestly listen and give constructive feedback.

Some ideas in case you are in the mood for thanking your colleague or manager with a small gift:

  • Gift cards for book stores
  • Books or CDs that your co-worker would love to have
  • Candies or small goodies for co-workers kids

We all are busy at work, but we can spare some moments for this essential etiquette at workplace, Some small gestures that bring a little sunshine in one’s life are always welcome. It fosters a healthy working environment and brings goodwill to the heart. And when the next time you ask for a favor, it would be hard for them to say ‘no’!

What are the advantages of showing appreciation at work?
- Well doing good makes you feel good and what goes around comes around.
- And of course, more people will like you, don’t we all want that?

A good deed goes a long way. Appreciate someone today and make their day. Why are we hesitant in showing our good self or the being a helper at work, after all we spend more than half of our waking hours at work, lets strive to make it a happier place for ourselves and for others as well.

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7 Tips to help you Work effectively from Home

If you are telecommuting often or have a home-based business here are some great tips that will help you remain focused and organized.

  1. Have a dedicated space to work.
    If you have children at home, make sure they are being taken care of in a separate room. Multitasking here would not be that productive for your work and only increases stress.
  2. Define work hours during which you would not want to be disturbed – only unless if your house is on fire or your nanny is about to dial 911! Dedicate this time entirely to your work. When you are working from home concentrate on your work, keep your mind off kids and household chores. You must convince yourself and also your boss/team that when you are working from home you shall devote 100 percent focus towards your work. Show them or convince them that the work would be done and stay true to your commitment. It is an assurance for your boss and team that you are just not taking advantage of a situation but sincerely mean what you say. It also puts up a positive note for those women in other teams or those in your own who have a greater possibility of getting support from the manager and the team if requesting to work from home. Don’t let them and others down by not performing your best when given the opportunity of flexibility to work from home.
  3. Sometimes you may feel sloppy being in your ‘house clothes’ or in the pajamas day in and out, try to wear a trendy and smart outfit (may not be your best suit) and get to work, it gets you on a feel-good high.
  4. Keep away from distractions, no downloading music or continuous time on the messenger or the chat rooms. And as mentioned in the points above, avoid chores when working from home. Be disciplined and know your boundaries – and most importantly get the work done.
  5. Communicate your work hours to your colleagues and boss if you want to start and stop work earlier than the normal office hours (say 9 am to 5 pm). Try your best to show flexibility in working hours for important team meetings and also keep in touch with the team by being present at the main office (where your manager and team works) whenever required. Howsoever remotely you are able to work, some interaction on personal level is a must for a better boss-employee and co-worker relationship.
  6. Treat your lunch hour as you would when at work.
    Avoid grocery shopping or running errands during this time, because one distraction leads to another. Imagine yourself running for a quick grocery shopping and after when you are loading your refrigerator, something knocks on your mind to just clean up and get rid of the rotting veggies in the fridge before you load the new stuff. And how about quickly marinating the fish / chicken for dinner before getting back on the computer? The half an hour planned trip has turned into a one and a half hour lunch break for you and has terribly distracted your mind from the work you were at.
  7. Don’t Overextend your Working Hours.
    Shut off the computer and get out of the work area, working from home sometimes may mean working more hours than you might actually put in your regular work day. To avoid doing so, train yourself to your schedule and not getting in the habit of checking your Email even after dinner. Do not let the working hours take any of your personal family time. You will feel satisfied and organized once you make that mindset.

In short, show your productiveness while telecommuting and be prompt in answering the office Emails. It only improves your chances for continuing working from home and later on asking your boss for a part-time work schedule if you feel like.

If you have some stories to share on your telecommuting experience, or some tips of advice for all, please do share your comments.
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Feeling Stuck – Are you in a Job you would rather not be in?

Any of these statements resonates with your thoughts?
  • Ah Monday morning, another day, another start to a week, the 9-5 that I would rather not be in!
  • I am just not performing to the best of my abilities at work? I could do more but my boss just does not understand.
  • I feel stuck in this job, with no desire to better my performance, just another day at work.
  • Nothing at work excites me now, it is a routine. Well, you are not alone; in fact you could be with the majority! In a survey conducted by TNS in 2004, the firm uncovered these disturbing results:

    • 40 percent of workers feel disconnected from their employers.
    • 66 percent of workers do not identify with or feel motivated to drive their employer’s business goals and objectives.
    • 25 percent of employees are just “showing up to collect a paycheck.”
    The point is, most of the workers are in a job that they’d rather not be in.

    The Role of HR
    Many cubicle dwellers to whom I have put up this questions say that the HR in their respective companies are not helping them much in getting “unstuck”. Now some of the questions that arise are:

    • How much does / can or should the HR resources at your place of work help in getting you unstuck or providing you the tools to find your way out of an uninspiring job?
    • How much are you responsible for your own moves and decisions?
    If you blame the HR and the management for not doing much to help you be in a position that you would not rather be in, then you are lost and probably will be stuck where you are for a long time.
    Who is the best person to get you unstuck – YOU and only you.
    The Steps towards Identifying your “Stuck” Situation
    • Before you blame your manager or anyone else, take a few minutes to evaluate your situation, it could be YOU. Assess the situation by drilling deep into the issue – WHY do you feel stuck? What situation or circumstances are leading you towards feeling stuck in the job?
    • If you feel you could address the situation better by talking to your manager, rather than just brooding on it yourself, would it be better if you just talked to your manager or supervisor and get his / her viewpoint?
    • Don’t just ponder on questions and solutions to what makes you unhappy in the present situation. Perhaps the right and the best solutions lie in questioning ourselves positively. Ask yourself – What must I do to feel satisfied and fulfilled in the present job or moving beyond to achieve the success and fulfillment I seek in my career?
    Always be proactive about your career and revisit often your future vision of a successful and satisfying career.
    Would you have some stories to share if you had felt stuck in your job at some time in your career and how you managed to wriggle out to a better and satisfying career path? please comment.
     

     

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