AWay from home jobs

[Murph12334]

Before kids, what did you do for a job?
What do you do now?
Will you get a job after kids grow some/off to school/etc?

[Murph12334]

i use to be a manager at a college dining center, and was in charge of a menu management system for same department.

now i do some mystery shopping though i haven't since LO has been born

i want to get masters in art history and work as a teacher, or in an art museum.

[inky leeuhhh]

before this lo, i was a preschool teacher full time.
now i am a sahm (YAY!!), and soon i will be babysitting a friends little boy from my home.. so that sort of answers questions 2 and 3 lol. i am incredibly excited that it is working out for me to stay home with my two little ones. its everything i wished for, but i never thought it would work out because i still need to bring in at least some $$. so being able to watch this little baby is a real blessing.

[secondimpression]

When I got pregnant with Xander, I was doing merchandising in grocery stores. How's that for a McJob?

Then I got hired on with a major defense contractor to work in electronics manufacturing. It's mostly wiring work and a few circuit boards thrown in here and there, all with a soldering iron. I love my job

Post-baby, I'm back to work full time doing the same thing. My employer offers full tuition reimbursement (books included!) upfront, so I'll be taking advantage of that for my degree in electronics engineering

In a perfect world, I'd be a SAHM.

[goodmomma76]

I sell insurance. I have since 1996. I like it. I love my employers now. They are so flexible with me. I pretty much work whtever and whenever I want. And I have been bringing lo with me.

What I wanted to be when I grew up (before I got pregnant at 17, and didn't finish college) was an elementary school teacher at first, now I think I would have liked to be either a lawyer or a nurse.

[wobblykate]

i got laid off from my benefited research position in dec. I continued to work as an independent contractor for some juv. just. attnys up till mid-march. I may start back to that soon...running out of $$ .

[racie0417]

As a military wife who moves often, I have not really worked in my field. My last job was work/life counselor. The job before that was an adjunct (i.e. part-time) professor at a state university.

I have been a stay at home mom since my older son was born.

Before I found out I was pregnant with this LO, I planned to look for another adunct professor position....so I plan to do that in another year or two.

[IncaMama]

i just finished my PhD in human development/education this semester (that was rough) and graduated on 5/16. PHEW! i probably won't work until riley's at least a year old, though. probably in research or policy. i dont like teaching. btdt.

[Peony]

Before DD1, I work in a hospital as an RN. I now do volunteer work in lactation support and hope to find the time next year to sit for the IBCLC exam. I won't work in that field other then here and there for some time, my children need to be much older for that.

[FischK]

I just started working as a professor last summer. Before that I was in grad school. Now, I'm enjoying the fact that I have a nine-month job with summers off. Come Sept., though, I'll be back in the classroom.

Soon, I'll have to start planning my classes and getting some writing done, but right now, I lack the energy and motivation to do so. But the last few weeks with DS have made me realize how much I love and enjoy my job.

[herins]

Before babes I was a grade 1 teacher in French Immersion and a photographer. During this pregnancy I taught 1.5 hours a day and am going back to that in September while getting my studio up and running. My husband is a writing consultant and works from home, so he spends the time I'm at work with the kids. Very nice set up!

[Murph12334]

so interesting to see what others do/did

[bodhitree]

Up until about 5 years ago, I was in grad school studying medieval literature. Then I realized I really didn't want to be a professor, so I dropped out of school and got a job in advertising (scheduling TV commercials). Working in TV really doesn't match up well with my values, and I kind of felt bad that the end result of my work was to keep shows like Maury Povich, Jerry Springer, and Family Guy on the air (sorry if you guys like those, I just personally feel like they're a sign of the decline of our culture ). So I'm happy that I got to quit and be a SAHM. I don't know what I'll do when River is older. I harbor dreams of buying a house on a few acres of land so I can be a suburban homesteader.

[ShineliketheSon]

Before DD1, I was an interior designer at a local furniture store. This is my degree, however I hated the selling part! I never made commission as I just wouldn't push sales...so I was thrilled when I got pregnant and DH and I decided I'd stay home. I quit 1 week before DD1 arrived and have been a SAHM for the last 4 years.

Ive also worked at daycares as lead teacher and at a law office as a legal adm assistant.

We are planning to homeschool both girls till college, so I will be a SAHM and a teacher!

If I do end up dabbling in something I'd probably do some interior design/space planning on the side or scrapbooking/poems/crafts of some sort. A friend of mine has a cake supply business online and she's asked me to make cake related greeting cards to sell...maybe after things settle down with the LO.

[emmaegbert]

It is interesting to read what you all do!

I'm a graduate student getting a PhD in Communication. Next fall I will be teaching one course per quarter (a child development practicum course). I will also be doing my dissertation fieldwork/data collection, which is luckily local. For the summer baby will come along to my preliminary field site visits but after that she will have to go into some childcare so I can conduct interviews and more intensive visits to site. I will get to use things like family-friendly volunteer events and educational materials on site as my evidence, so the kiddos can come along some of the time.

The following year I will be writing my dissertation, hopefully with fellowship support so that I don't have to teach as well. Having three jobs (mom, undergrad teaching, research) is really too much. I will also be looking for tenure-track academic jobs, and I do like teaching. But those of you in academia know that I will obviously be taking whatever job I get.

Before I came back to grad school I was a motion picture camera assistant and worked on television production. Mostly episodic TV and it was getting pretty brain-numbing that is for sure, and I never worked less than 60 hours a week when I was working. I came back to school so that I could have a more family-friendly career with summers off. I've never considered or even truly desired to be dependent on my partner for financial support or to divide our responsibilities so neatly along those gender roles, though at times it sounds like it would be nice too, since the reality is that I do end up with the lion's share of the "women's" work in addition to my professional aspirations. I think it will be easier to divide things more equitably as the children get older, and when we have more disposable income (I am SO hiring a maid as soon as I can afford one, neither of us likes to do housework!)

[emmaegbert]

Originally Posted by FischK

But the last few weeks with DS have made me realize how much I love and enjoy my job.

lol that has happened to me with both kids, though I am needing the "break" a bit more with the second. Its overwhelming to have both of them, and plus DH has a 9-5 job now- he used to be around more.

[MelW]

We sure have a lot of "academics" in our DDC! My husband is a university instructor, so I can relate to the lifestyle.

I'm a registered nurse. I worked in the hospital as a "perinatal" nurse before Neela was born, then took a year maternity leave (Canada ) We moved to Oregon for grad school for my husband, and I worked evenings in labor and delivery once she turned one. Then last July we moved back to Canada, and I started working in public health for birth to 5 year olds. I'm taking a year maternity leave again, but plan to go back full-time next April. My husband teaches part-time, and also does freelance writing and part-time SAHD.

In a couple of years I'm planning to do a master's degree- staying in Nursing. I just can't decide on which program/track to study, but one of my "hobbies" is researching grad schools online

[claras_mom]

I'm a composer, therefore I teach.

Counting grad school, I've been doing that combination for 20 years. I also perform a little, and serve on a couple of boards related to my field.

No interest in being a sahm, tho if someone offered me a big cash award to stay home and write, I'd do it (those do exist, but they're *really* senior awards in my field).

So mostly I work at achieving balance.

nak

[momma2be_k]

nak

I work at a small music studio as an audio mastering engineer. I've worked there for about 7 years. Initially - I was interested in going to college to get a degree in audio engineering, when I was offered an opportunity to work as an assistant to my current boss (kind of like an apprenticeship). In the audio industry it's better to learn by doing for sure! So I started working my butt off - long hours, low pay, no life. I worked my way up the ranks and no longer work as an assistant to my boss, but as a bona-fide engineer. I met DH at this studio, as he used to be in a band and was working on some of their music there. So - it all seemed to work out great! Got a great job, and met my husband... how convenient! I basically sit in front of a computer and speakers all day listening to all different kinds of music and make it sound louder, better and clearer. It's a ton of fun!
I'm back a few days a week right now for 3-4 hours a day... I bring LO with me. Because it's such a small place, there's only about 6 people that work there including myself.... and my boss and his wife are more like family than employers. I go back full time the end of the month... and the greatest part is that there is a daycare right upstairs from us.... and LO will be up there! I can go up to nurse him and I feel so great about that. Eventually the goal is to book mastering projects whenever I want (make my own schedule) and work more part-time hours but make more money....

[heatherweh]

I was an intelligence analyst, now a SAHM doing background investigations part time, I recently earned my MLS so might rejoin the workforce as a librarian when the kids are a bit older.