Career switch: Why I'm moving from being a nanny to being an IT professional

Four kids and a puppy

Taking care of four kids and a dog is not always easy. There are moments when everyone needs something, at the same time. Or the lot of them are tired, agitated, and in a mood to pick a fight. Picking the children up from school, taking along some of their friends, taking each of them to their separate sports activities, finding time to make food, keeping the house in order, getting them ready for bed, putting them back to bed after they've come down again, in the meantime walking the puppy-dog every three hours... It requires patience, proper decision making, people skills, negotiating skills, proper planning, stress management. That almost sounds like a real job, right?

Gym class, Tuesdays, for the two youngest

Now what?

I finished my studies, Organisational Science and Governance, in 2012. Then went traveling and did some jobs to the side, mostly in health care, and more traveling. I have a variety of skills, am very capable of adapting to new situations and I'm an easy learner. After coming back from our latest travels, I did the nanny thing. But now, as we're steady for a bit, I was thinking it might be time for a 'real job'. But what to do?

I tried jobs in line with my studies - HR jobs mostly, some consultancy type. But before ever getting invited for an interview, the response would be: we have selected kandidates with more (relevant) job experience. I never got to go over and show them what a nice, confident, and capable person I really am.

Friends come over and four kids becomes nine

Job opportunity

I started looking around. Where are they hiring? Where do they need more people? What kind of work do people tend to enjoy, where are employees most satisfied? Where are the best opportunities to learn and grow and shape your career to your liking? It's very possible the answer I found doesn't come as a surprise to most of my Steemit friends: the best opportunities are in IT. And they are so much interested in finding people, that they'll hire you and train you at the job, even if you have no previous IT skills or job experience. An interest in and affinity with IT is all that is required.

We went on fun outings too. Our latest visit was to the Sonneveld House in Rotterdam, a cool display of 1933 architecture and design. We did the audio tour.

Breaking my head

I'll be honest with you. I thought long and hard about making this switch. I became very fond of those kids, was comfortably fitting in with the family's routine, had a lot of freedom and was in charge of my own hours. Challenges were not so much on a mental, more on a personal, emotional and relational level. And sometimes working hours were taking them all to the swimming pool, putting on my bathing suit and letting them have fun in the water for hours while I'm reading my book. Quite a deal, right? The 9 to 5 office job is something very different. And I was having a lot of fun where I was. It's the feeling I have that I'm ready for a next kind of challenge, looking forward to having colleagues, to learning new skills and developing myself on other levels that made me decide to make the jump.

Transitioning

One week ago, the family went on their holidays. And the IT traineeship I signed up for starts in about two weeks. I have a three week period to transition. Means, I'm doing an online ITIL course, apparently a classic in IT, getting ready for my first exam. I'm working hard on getting my driver's license, something I never prioritised due to all the traveling but which now will be very useful for traveling to different clients. And most of all, I'm wrapping my head around the idea of me as an IT professional instead of me as a nanny. Actually, I'm enjoying the process. Usually, after a time period of about 18 months, I like to bring some major change into my life. Something drastic, which requires me to reinvent myself. I believe it is an excellent strategy for staying young, flexible and alive.

Somewhere between a nanny and an IT professional?

A Steemit update

Usually I like writing posts about some place I traveled, some museum I visited, some local architecture from here in Rotterdam. Now, as I'm switching my day to day business to IT, I'm sure that will become a part of what I like to write about. The journey of becoming an IT professional, and how that's working out. So welcoming all of you to join me along in this career switch! Hope we're going to have a good time.

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