Hellobee Boards

Your Job: Attorney
Where do you work: State agency
PROS (to ppl who have children): Job has predictable times of year when it is busy and slow, so we know generally the times of year when things will be crazier. I also have excellent cheap health insurance, job protection, the ability to work a more flexible or part time schedule, and I don't take my work home with me.
CONS (to ppl who have children): It pays significantly (significantly) less than the private sector and I have to work in person - no option to telecommute. The cost of law school is not something to play around with carelessly.
Does it affect your marriage? No.
Would you recommend your industry to a fellow mom? Yes. I have been able to take long maternity leaves with job protection, our agency is family friendly, and I've been able to work reduced hours since having kids. However, the expense of law school is significant and we made it a priority to pay it off without having to use the public loan forgiveness program because I didn't want to stress about it with regards to having kids. I am very lucky my husband makes a good income to have paid that off and to allow me to work a reduced schedule to keep things flowing smoother at home.
Rate your career for someone who has children
(0 worst - 10 best): 9

Your Job: Manager of a consulting team

Where do you work: Financial software company

PROS (to ppl who have children): I have a senior role on my team, so I don't really have much day-to-day deadline stress. This means my job is very flexible, and I have a lot of control over my schedule. I can work from home when I need to (once every week or two, at my discretion). I am paid enough to allow me to spend a little more on childcare so I can have more support at home.

CONS (to ppl who have children): I am in a senior role because I am an older mom, and I am currently struggling with secondary infertility. So basically, I am reaping the benefits of more work experience but at the cost of having a family at a younger age. I also worked two jobs across six years that I absolutely hated (and I brought ten years of experience to the job, but the first four years were more enjoyable), which taught me about the financial industry and were critical to success in my current job. Also, I have all the pros and cons of being a manager (helping people grow their careers vs dealing with performance issues). I have a lot of responsibility and a multi-faceted job which means that I track a lot of threads and sometimes get stressed out about keeping everything on track for our team. It's not a job for everyone.

Does it affect your marriage? Not really. My husband's job is far less flexible, and our family really benefits from my job's flexibility. His job is more of a drain on our marriage because it is pretty all-consuming.

Would you recommend your industry to a fellow mom? Yes, as long as you hold out for a company with the right results-oriented culture. Tech can provide a lot of flexibility if there is not an emphasis on face time at the office. But the industry as a whole has a reputation for being misogynistic and very intense, so it is important to hold out for the right job. And finance is not family-friendly in my opinion, at least not a trading desk job like the ones I used to have.

Rate your career for someone who has children
(0 worst - 10 best): 8. Right now it's a 10, but the path to get there would have been more like a 6.

Your Job: Realtor
Where do you work: Technically for a large Real Estate conglomerate, but I really work for myself- I file taxes as a small business owner.
PROS (to ppl who have children): INCREDIBLY flexible hours. I also solely work from home (never go into my office except to print stuff/pick up mail) besides doing showings, and I take DS with me to weekly Broker's Open houses.
CONS (to ppl who have children): You work when your clients want you to, which is mostly evenings and weekends. It's also 100% commission based, so if you are having anything else going on in your life that requires your focus (like a baby/maternity leave/health issues, sick kid, etc.), you won't make as much money and it's not reliable income- right now the market is great, but in a recession, you could suffer. We also get health insurance/benefits through my husband's job; there are ways to get it through my work but it's pretty expensive.
Does it affect your marriage? No. DS is incredibly supportive of me building my career, and even though he is the primary breadwinner in our family, he works with me to make my schedule work.
Would you recommend your industry to a fellow mom? Yes.
Rate your career for someone who has children:
(0 worst - 10 best): 10- Right now, I am very part-time with work, as I am home with DS full time (I don't pay for childcare). Once he is in school 5 days a week, I will have the time to expand my business and work more, but still be able to drop him off/pick him up/attend school events. For right now, it's a good time to ease into the business so I can start making a name for myself, then hit the ground running in a few years. Also, at this life stage, you meet a ton of potential clients- so many people with young kids are looking to sell their too small home, buy something bigger, or move to the 'burbs.

I work as a research manager for the US Government.

Pros: I can work from home whenever I need (3 days a week), as long as I have childcare. My responsibilities are perfomance based, so I just need to get my work done. If needed, I can do some work off hours, but it is never expected.

Cons : right now there's a huge hiring freeze and staff reduction going on, even though we are under staffed. I have a ton of work with crappy pay (a $10k raise I was promised is part of the hiring freeze). Benefits are expensive and no maternity leave.

It doesn't impact my marriage, but my marriage would be much stronger if I didn't work.

I wouldn't recommend anyone to work at my agency right now. My job is great, but that's because I have a fantastic boss.

I'd rate it an 8-everything my boss has control over is great.

Where do you work: Public library

Pros for people with kids: generous PTO, good insurance, kid-friendly place of business, reliable employment

Cons: lots of nights and weekend shifts, some stressful interactions with the public

Does it impact my family/marriage: no except my husband can never figure out where I know “strangers” from when we run into people from work out at the grocery store or whatever

I would recommend to a fellow mom, especially someone who prefers part-time work (a lot easier to find than FT)

Family friendliness of field: 7 but my employer is more like a 8-9, very understanding administration

Your Job: Teacher

Where do you work: public school

PROS (to ppl who have children):
I get summer vacations and holidays off (albeit unpaid) but it's so nice to be able to be home with kids when they're not in school over the summer, and to know that I'll never have to go into an office/work setting on a holiday. Knowing how the public education system works has also been an unexpected bonus for a mom of a future public school student, and I get to see lots of examples of what (and what not :wink:) to do with parenting. I was already tenured, so I was able to take a long maternity leave with my first and not have to worry about job security. I also like that my school day ends early (though it starts early, too) so I can pick up LO and get home in time to play a bit & cook dinner.

CONS (to ppl who have children): We have great health benefits, but the salary isn't amazing, so that can be tough with childcare. The days start early and can feel long and draining at times. It's a stressful job, and you are on CONSTANTLY, which can be tough when you come home to a LO who also needs mommy to be "on." It also feels physically impossible to complete the job only at work...I always have some planning or grading waiting to be done at home, and I get to work early every day. It's tough to find part-time work in my particular certification, though some certifications have more available part-time. (Tutoring, etc. does provide opportunities for flexible hours.) It'll never be easy to see LO off to the bus on her first day of school, though, because it coincides with my own, and that makes me weirdly sad.

Does it affect your marriage?
A little bit? DH is really supportive but the workload and stress can be intense. It's tough sometimes to explain why you have to spend your Saturday evening with a stack of essays.

Would you recommend your industry to a fellow mom?
Yes, with reservation (see cons).

Rate your career for someone who has children
(0 worst - 10 best): 8? (I also think it partly depends on your school & district, as the expectations can vary pretty widely.)

Your Job: corporate controller (accounting)
Where do you work: automotive company
PROS (to ppl who have children): for my specific job...good pay, generally flexible work schedule, good advancement, challenging work which for me keeps me engaged. For the Accounting field as a whole...stable work, generally can have flexible work/life balance, easily transferable knowledge, many different career paths.
CONS (to ppl who have children): busy seasons (quarters, year ends, tax time for some), male dominant field, can get mundane at lower levels of Accounting.
Does it affect your marriage? We've had our moments - as I'm sure everyone has. I have gone through periods of traveling a lot fir certain work issues, those have been tough. I've also had my fair share of middle of the night calls, and all night working, but all in all I'd say no.
Would you recommend your industry to a fellow mom? Accounting, absolutely. So many ways to make a nice career out if this industry. It's a skill that almost every business needs. Whether you want to be FT or PT, work just for tax season to make some $$, consult fir small local business out if your home...the possibilities are endless. As for the specific job I'm in, top accounting person at a large auto company...I'd recommend it if you are def a career driven person - if not the sacrifices and stress level would not be worth it.
Rate your career for someone who has children
(0 worst - 10 best): 8/9 depending on the family friendliness of the company!

@irene: Yeah the illness is a while other story. I can take off (most of the time) when DS is sick but I always have to make the hours up so it means working some Sundays etc etc.

Your Job:physical therapist
Where do you work: small
Community hospital per diem- 6-10 hours per week
PROS (to ppl who have children):
-I'll write this as though I work more hours. Depending on the facility it can be family friendly. You can typically work out alternate shifts, part time, per diem, etc I used to work for a huge teaching hospital FT,, moved, and now I'm at small hospital (was full time now per diem in which I basically set my own schedule). I make a great hourly wage
My work ends when I clock out, which is typically on time.
Salary is good across the country, 65-100k depending on experience and setting
CONS (to ppl who have children):
Some facilities aren't family friendly. There are often weekend work requirements
Hard to just jump into...4 years college with set prereqs, 3 years clinical doctorate degree. Potential for large student loan debt
Physically and emotional exhausting when working a lot
Does it affect your marriage?
No but I'm not the primary earner
Would you recommend your industry to a fellow mom?
Yes but if you are switching careers it will be expensive and take a while until you are actually earning. I'd look at a Physical therapist Assisant track
Rate your career for someone who has children
(0 worst - 10 best): 8/9 depending on my caseload. Some days I feel like I get paid too much for what I do!

Your Job: Teacher (math)

Where do you work: Urban elementary school

PROS (to ppl who have children):
A lot more days off than a typical profession.
My school is very female-friendly. All of our leadership (school admin and above) is female. 5/6 of those women are mothers, and four of them were/are single mothers (I am not but I find it adds to the mother-friendly culture of my work). I have never been made to feel bad for taking time off or bringing DD in with me on in-service days.
My work is incredibly fulfilling. If I am leaving DD on a daily basis, I want to be doing something meaningful.
As the pp said, I know a lot about learning and development.
There are a lot of interesting career paths within education - I plan to get my PhD one day and go into research.
Travel opportunities. I know a lot of teachers who have taught in international schools and their LOs get free tuition. DH and I are considering this in the future.

CONS (to ppl who have children):
It is so incredibly draining. A lot of my students have experienced trauma, so on top of being "on" all day, I am also dealing with a lot of really challenging behavior and difficult situations. It is hard to invest in DD in the evenings.
I start at 7:30am with a commute. I don't see DD until after work most days. I get home between 5:30 and 6.
Money. I also earn 40k with a masters and high health insurance costs. I am currently the sole income earner while DH finishes grad school and to say it is tight is an understatement. He stays home with DD, which helps.

Does it affect your marriage?'
Yes, but DH is a former teacher so is pretty understanding.

Would you recommend your industry to a fellow mom?
Probably but I am conflicted. The long hours when school is in for little money put me on the fence.

Rate your career for someone who has children
(0 worst - 10 best):
6?

Your Job: world language teacher
Where do you work: public high school (suburb of a major city)
PROS (to ppl who have children):
The teaching calendar/vacation time
The daily hours- yes, we are out of the house early but I have about 3 hours with my LO at home after work every day. Plenty of time to cook dinner and get her to bed early enough and then still some solo time after.
My particular position has a lot of freedom and I basically do whatever I want in the classroom. There are no standardized tests for my subject (except for AP which I do teach every other year) so it's pretty low stress and I am generally not teaching to tests.
I get my work done at school, arriving about a half an hour early and staying about 1 hour late every day (so basically a normal 8 hr day). When I had less experience (this is my 12th year) I had to work more but enjoyed it and now I'm pretty well set up despite the fact that I am constantly retooling and planning new things.
I can easily take off work if my kid is sick. Making sub plans can be stressful but I don't feel guilty being out if my family needs me to be and it's totally acceptable in my school culture.
Will have been able to take 2 long mostly paid maternity leaves, but that's just because we timed it that way (includes the summer and i choose to have my salary split up to be paid year round).
I work in one of the most highly paid states and have almost maxed out our salary schedule by tKing courses. I make a lot more than what some other teachers have shared. But once I max out I basically will be making the same salary for the rest of my career if you consider inflation.
Pension. I started working at 22 so I should be able to retire at 58 w/80% my current pay.
CONS (to ppl who have children):
I do need time to decompress at the end of the day but I don't think I'm as tapped out as some of the other teachers who have posted bc of the nature of my position.
Does it affect your marriage? Positively, yes. My husband happens to work similar hours (not a teacher)so it has been amazing for our family life. The only negative I guess is that my DH gets very little time off so we can't take as much advantage of my time off as I'd like.
Would you recommend your industry to a fellow mom? For sure.
Rate your career for someone who has children
(0 worst - 10 best): 9.5. No job is perfect and I do ride waves up and down in terms of my overall happiness with my job.

Your Job: Software Designer
Where do you work: I work for a startup that was recently acquired by a fairly big software company

PROS (to ppl who have children):
- Salary
- Good maternity leave policy - better now that we've been acquired. In my industry this seems to be starting to become a competitive advantage for acquiring employees.
- Hours are you typical work week most of the time unless you work for like a 5 person start up or something.
- My job is pretty flexible and I can work from home when I need to. My boss also offered a permanent WFH day every week, but I turned it down.
- Tons of demand for people right now, so the only reason to stay with a company is because you like it, not because you have to.

CONS (to ppl who have children):
- It's a male dominated field so you may experience varying levels of sexism depending on where you are.
- Takes a fair amount of education. Most people in my functional area have master's degrees.

Does it affect your marriage?
- I could probably write a whole post on this. To some extent yes. Even though the hours are good, my job itself can be kind of intense. Plus I'll be moving into management at the beginning of the year while still keeping a large chunk of my work.

So sometimes I can move my schedule and be the one to take the sick kid, and sometimes I can't. DH also has a job in tech and I feel like men are treated differently. As a man it's just expected that you can work late or be on call or come in for a weekend emergency because you have a wife that will do everything for the household. But it's not like I work at a part time job or sell MLM stuff a few hours a week. I have an intense job. There are times when stuff comes up we have to figure out who's job has to take the hit. But I have an amazing husband who's very supportive. And because my career has been taking off, he's been intentionally taking the hit more. But it's still a delicate balance.

Would you recommend your industry to a fellow mom?
- Yes, I would recommend tech in general. But each company is different.
Rate your career for someone who has children
(0 worst - 10 best): 8

Your Job: Instructional Designer / Corporate Training

Where do you work: Right now, I work 3 days in the office and 2 days a week at home. I work for a national quasi-governmental institution.

There is currently some talk about the possibility of my dept being completely work from home next year and only having to go into an office 2 days a month for meetings.

PROS (to ppl who have children): Flexibility and great benefits. Everyone in my department has kids, so they're all understanding. Being able to work at home and use instant messenger / video chats / conference calls gives us a lot of flexibility. We also have great health insurance and retirement benefits and generous PTO.

The trend toward online learning has been great for flexibility in my career. When I was teaching in-person courses in a classroom years ago, there was obviously a lot less flexibility in time and location. Now, everything I teach is via webinar or is recorded for learners to take online at their own pace.

CONS (to ppl who have children): There aren't many. Sometimes overtime is required when we're up against a tight deadline. I hear we're paid less than the private sector, but I'm happy with my salary, and the benefits more than make up for that to me. I also work in a small department with a pretty tight budget, so the work load can be heavy, and there aren't always a lot of opportunities for moving up the ladder.

Does it affect your marriage? My husband works 12 hour shifts on a rotating schedule. So me working from home and having extra flexibility has actually made it a lot easier to deal with his work situation.

Would you recommend your industry to a fellow mom? Yes, although it's not that easy to break into if you don't already have experience.

Rate your career for someone who has children
(0 worst - 10 best): 9.5

Your job: CPA

Where do you work: Downtown office building in a large city

PROS: Typically a good amount of flexibility. Able to WAH, can work early or late to suit your schedule. Very good pay and benefits. If you can find the right employer or just work for yourself, can be a part time or seasonal job.

CONS: Deadline driven which means a lot of overtime. If something needs to be finished, you have to finish it no matter what is going on in your personal life. I have stayed in the office until 2-3 a.m. on more than one occasion. If you work with clients you will also need to travel.

Does it affect your marriage: Yes

Would you recommend your industry to a fellow mom? Probably not. The work itself is not at all rewarding and there is so much pressure to meet deadlines.

Rate your career for someone who has children (0 worst - 10 best): 1 for full time work in a CPA firm, 7 if part time/seasonal/flexible position

Disclaimer: I SAH now because the work life balance was not worth it once I became a mom.

Your Job: child protection social work consultant

Where do you work: a children's hospital

PROS (to ppl who have children): my schedule is great-2 10 hour days and the ability to do some work from home, if needed. I also work with a very family friendly team so everyone is always understanding when things come up with our childcare, illness, etc.

CONS (to ppl who have children): I work in child protection so some of the things we see/hear can be very upsetting. It can be hard not to take it home with you.

Does it affect your marriage? At times.

Would you recommend your industry to a fellow mom? Probably not, unless you had already been doing something similar. The on-call can be a real issue, especially when I have to solo parent at the same time. If your children were older, it wouldn't be as much of an issue.

Rate your career for someone who has children
(0 worst - 10 best): 6

This is based on my current job and not at all indicative of the industry. I previously worked in public accounting and work/life balance was terrible.

Your Job: CPA/Tax Accounting

Where do you work: Large automaker

PROS (to ppl who have children):
- Flexible work - work from home 1x/week and set my own hours
- 40 hrs/week, no late nights/weekends 95% of the time
- Paid overtime (at current job)
- Great pay/benefits
- Stable job market

CONS (to ppl who have children):
- Overtime during deadlines (quarter-end/tax return filing)

Does it affect your marriage? Not at all. I'd say it positively effects my marriage compared to my previous job.

Would you recommend your industry to a fellow mom? Generally, no. My specific company, yes.

Rate your career for someone who has children - My job - 9. Industry - 5.
(0 worst - 10 best):

Your Job: Public Relations

Where do you work: Non-profit mental health advocacy organization

Pros:
- Generous PTO
- Decent, inexpensive health insurance
- Relatively flexible schedule
- Child-friendly environment. Almost everyone has kids and my boss is very family-oriented and expects everyone else to be as well.

Cons:
- Pretty crappy pay (non-profit...)
- We are perpetually understaffed, which means I'm doing the work of 2.5 employees.
- Overtime expected if there are upcoming grant deadlines, big events, etc.
- Due to the nature of the work my organization does, it can be pretty stressful and emotionally draining.

Does it impact my family/marriage: Not generally, though I do have to work to not bring my stress home.

Would you recommend your industry to a fellow mom? Yes and no. Crappy pay but good benefits. The job itself could be much worse if my boss wasn't family-oriented.

Rate your career for someone who has children
(0 worst - 10 best): 7

These have been so interesting to read!

Your Job: Associate Attorney

Where do you work: Big law firm

PROS (to ppl who have children):
-Job can be flexible and limited face time requirements. It is very common for folks to sneak out during the day/come in late when needed, as long as you coordinate around meetings/depositions/court appearances, which is pretty easy to do.
-Most of the people I work with have families so people are often really understanding about family commitments. The people who don't have families are pretty social/active outside the office with family/friends/etc. so in general there are a lot of models of what it looks like to carve out personal time.
-The money is good.

CONS (to ppl who have children):
-On the flip side of my experience, the emphasis on family time in the industry generally has been growing, and there can sometimes be a sense of resentment among older attorneys that they feel they sacrificed a lot in terms of family time while younger attorneys are not having to do the same. Luckily I haven't personally had to deal with that attitude much if at all.
-The hours are really long and deadlines are unforgiving. I work late at least a couple times a week. I am often able to avoid weekend work but not always. And I absolutely always feel like I need to be working more. Every weeknight is a struggle to stay awake long enough to get more work done.

Does it affect your marriage? It does, but not in a bad way generally because my husband is super supportive and great and takes on a ton of childcare happily. It's only difficult because he has a demanding job too, so when we're both on deadline it can be tough to manage, especially because we both try to really limit how much DS is getting care from someone other than us on nights/weekend.

Would you recommend your industry to a fellow mom? Really depends. I absolutely love my job, I find it stimulating and often fun. There are a lot of positives I didn't list above because they're not really positives "for people who have children." I've been really happy with how parenting has worked with this job and would really encourage anyone who wants to become a biglaw lawyer not to avoid it just because they want to have a family. But if you're just looking for a job to pay the bills so you can spend as much time as possible being a parent, it is a terrible option.

Rate your career for someone who has children
(0 worst - 10 best): 8 for me, could see it being a 1 if this wasn't the job you really wanted.

@wrkbrk: Ha, hm, well I guess that's how I made it sound although I didn't fully intend to! I suppose accurately described it is fairly stressful, but I think the trade-off of it being manageably stressful is that I get a lot of responsibility in my cases and find it stimulating and challenging, in a good way. Yes, I am in NYC, and I definitely think my firm is on the far end of the spectrum as far as hours and profile (although perhaps not as far to the extreme as people outside the firm might assume). Even in NYC I am certain you can find other law firm jobs where the hours would not be quite as intense.