Critical Careers - Women Building Careers in Digital Infrastructure - Book - Page 45
The mid-stage of a career is
where things become more
complex. What challenges
have emerged for you
as your responsibilities
have grown?
The biggest challenge at this stage has been balancing career
progression with motherhood. Once I had my child, that became the
most important shift for me. For a while, I felt a real pressure that it had
to be one or the other — either I focused on my career, or I focused on
my family.
That was quite a dif昀椀cult place to be, especially at a point where I felt I
was in a good place professionally and wanted to keep moving forward.
What has made a huge difference is being in an organisation that is
genuinely supportive. It has shown me that it does not have to be a
choice between the two. Having that support has taken away a lot of
stress and made it possible to keep developing my career while also
being present as a mother.
Have there been moments where
you had to take a risk or step
outside your comfort zone to keep
moving forward? What did you
learn from that experience?
Yes, de昀椀nitely. A few years ago, I felt very stuck in a role. I
had become quite boxed in by the work I was doing, and
although it was comfortable in some ways, I had also lost
con昀椀dence in myself. I started questioning whether I was
actually capable of doing something more.
What helped me move forward was having strong
women around me who challenged that way of thinking.
They reminded me of everything I had learned and
everything I was capable of. Becoming a mother also
changed my perspective. I knew I did not want to stay
in a situation where I was unhappy, and I did not want
my daughter to grow up seeing that. I wanted her to see
someone who was willing to keep pushing herself and
building something ful昀椀lling.
What I learned from that
experience is that comfort is
not always the same as growth.
Sometimes you need to step out
of the situation you know in order
to recognise your own value and
move towards something better.
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