How do you find the balance between your career and motherhood?
It’s important to me that my career and family work together. For me, balance is achieved when I can build a regular routine that also allows enough room for occasional flexibility.
I’ve tried out a few different working patterns since I returned from maternity leave. When my daughter was little, I worked 4 days a week, and really enjoyed having a day off just the two of us. When she started at school, I decided to finish early on Thursdays and Fridays to allow me to pick her up.
I quickly learnt that taking the time out was doable as long as I was clear in my communication to others and also realistic when setting expectations with myself. On some days, this might mean asking for meetings to be moved if they get scheduled on afternoons. On others, it would mean making sure I stayed focused on my top priorities, or simply accepting I can’t do everything (even if I worked 7am-7pm).
One-off events are also really important to me. I want to see her in the school play and be there for sports day. I’ve found my colleagues to be really supportive of taking the time to do these things, and as long as I’m clear about when I’m not going to be available, I can manage my own time to make this work. They often want to hear how it went!
What has been your greatest challenge as a working mother in tech?
I find 5pm the greatest challenge. In the past, if I had a big piece of work or a deadline, I could work later into the evening to get it done. Now I need to leave at 5pm to collect my daughter from after-school club and am then busy for the next few hours with dinner and bedtime. That 5-6pm window also used to be my catch-up time when I didn’t have any meetings. As well as not having the time, I find the mental switch from work into family life difficult. The transition from talking about work to talking about playground dramas can be tough!