April 2022 Moms

GTKY: Career


When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? And what did you end up becoming? 

Re: GTKY: Career

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  • In elementary school I wanted to be a basketball player, LOL! Then around middle school I wanted to “help people” as a counselor/psychologist, although I didn’t fully understand the difference then.

    Stuck with that through the first year of grad school when I left to be a SAHM/homeschool but worker in mental health from when I was 19 up to that point. After my daughter was born I got my certification as a childbirth doula and starting building a business there until my youngest was born— he was terribly clingy and would refuse a bottle no matter how long I was gone. By the time he got a little more independent my husband was traveling sporadically and I didn’t have a solid childcare base so I’ve only done a couple births for friends since then.

    Then when my husband lost his job earlier this year I thought I’d go out and supplement his unemployment with a temporary job, which ended up in me completely taking over management for this little coffee shop/juice bar cafe. It’s a fun job but I love my kids more and arranging for childcare to get to work by 6:45 am isn’t my favorite thing, so I’m slated to be done after Black Friday.

    I’ve really gotten into gardening and nutrition the past few years though, so I’ve started making and selling jellies, pickles, spice mixes, breads, etc, on the side. 
  • I’m really enjoying hearing everybody’s stories!
  • I have no idea what I wanted to be when I was real young but starting in middle school, it was marine biologist. In high school I did really bad in honors biology so I gave up on that thinking I'd never be good enough.

    Briefly I thought fashion design and towards the end of high school thought it might be fun to do fashion merchandising, until I realized that lots of people ended up managing JC Penney and that seemed like a job you didn't need 4 years of school to do (not saying its not hard, just $80k to learn it seemed a bit much). Picked Human Sexuality as a major (a big thing at IU where I went) and my mom mentioned that I didn't seem suited to a life of research on my own, so I downgraded that to a minor and went into public policy.

    Graduated and worked at a trade association in DC and realized my boss was miserable and didn't want to end up like her and also kind of hated cubicle farm working. So I did some thinking and asked myself, "What job is different every day, requires me to constantly learn, and gives me time off to travel with my family once I have one?" Teaching jumped out at me immediately. Went to grad school to get my teaching license and been doing that for 9 years-almost completely math and science for 3-5 graders, with one year as a full classroom teacher with all subjects (it was too hard). Now I'm an instructional coach/interventionist for math K-5. It's a lot of fun. 

    I will say, that honestly I hate working full time. It is really hard and while I love my job, every year I get super overwhelmed by the amount of work it takes to run my household, raise my kids, and do my job well. Teaching is getting harder every year, with more responsibility. I honestly only work because I realized that as a SAHM I get zero breaks-and that isn't good for me either. Working gives me two hours a day between work and daycare pick up that are all mine-otherwise I might pick not working and just raise my kids and work on my writing! If I move to the librarian job at my school, then I'll be able to take some responsibility off my plate AND its oddly full time at my school-so there's a chance it would eventually down grade to part time which is more my wheelhouse-even once all my kids are in school. 
  • Growing up I always wanted to be a teacher. I loved being the boss, in front of people, and grading papers. I used to stay in at recess and help my teacher grade papers (easy things like math where he had an answer key). I would set up a school classroom and force my brother and sister to go to school all day and do their lessons. 😂

    Once I got into high school I realized education was not the path for me. I really liked numbers and had an aunt who worked in accounting. I was also working as a teller at a bank and loved it. So I went to college and got my degree in accounting. I really enjoyed my accounting classes. I got an internship that gave me a chance to do accounting and also financial planning and analysis. I realized I actually hate accounting in the real world, but love data and financial analysis. So I’ve worked at a couple of large corporations doing financial planning and analysis. I’ve mostly worked on the budgeting side and helping plan and analyze budgets. 

    Over time I’ve learned I really enjoy Business Intelligence (BI) and data visualization. But I don’t have any tech degree or any certifications so I’m still trying to figure out how to get myself more into that field. 
  • I am so impressed by all of you!

    As a kid, I wanted to be an artist and/or novelist, and I definitely still have those dreams in my heart!

    I majored in art education at first but quickly realized that teaching was not a good fit for me, and I mossed taking literature classes, so I switched to art minor, English major.

    Then I worked as a marketing copywriter for websites, then as a technical writer for a financial software company. Last year, I decided I wanted to do copyediting and proofreading, hopefully novels, and I also didn’t like commuting and working full time, so I quit my job and went freelance. I mostly enjoy it, although the business side can be a little overwhelming sometimes. It’s nice to have breaks between editing jobs.

    I would still love to do writing and/or art on the side but often lack the motivation/discipline to get started.
    Me: 30 // Hubs: 31
    Married May 2019
    Baby #1 due April 19, 2022
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