Yes, you read that title right. My name is Cass, I’m 28 years old, pregnant & about to be a mom but i’m back in school.

If you are new here, I shared back in November that I had been terminated from my job. Talk about horrible timing, the holiday’s were around the corner & I was how many weeks pregnant. Talk about a nightmare situation to be in, not only is it hard to find a job on a good day but right before christmas is arguably one of the toughest times in general to find a job, but then factor in that in like 4 months I would have been going on maternity leave …. I am every employers worst nightmare of a hire essentially. I started to look for some part time work, that I could still use my skills for, just to have something to kill the days but so far I’ve still been having no luck. After many conversations with my husband, we decided that instead of doing absolutely nothing for almost 2 years, & then having a hard time getting back into the same career because I haven’t been working in so long, I should just bite the bullet & take some courses, keep my mind sharp & give myself something to do. Well this is when I went a little crazy & decided to do a complete 180 & make a complete career change. I’ve been working in tech for the past couple years & have been loving it, but tech has become a very unreliable field for employees, one day you feel super secure in your job the next your out, even the largest tech companies (google, shopify, etc.) have been making drastic cuts, which just shows how unreliable the ‘oh so powerful’ tech industry has become. With all that said, we have a child on the way & I was feeling very discouraged about the lack of reliability in my career path, which has lead me to where we are now.

I’m currently enrolled in a college program designed to be part time & for working professionals, essentially a ‘do at your own pace’ style course. The course is called ‘Nursing Unit Clerk’ program, which means i’m making a change to work in healthcare, more specifically taking steps to work in a hospital. I have 9 courses in total that I have to complete in order to get a certificate, but I can pick & choose when I do them, the best part is I don’t have to complete the 9 courses in a certain amount of time, just have to complete the course i’m registered in before the end date. I am currently working on 2 this semester while we get ready for baby, & also to see how I like the program. I’ll probably take a semester off right after she’s born, but then get back to it. The plan is for me to be working on these 9 courses throughout my maternity leave, that way i’m graduated with a certificate & back at work when I planned.

How is it going so far? Well it’s been tough, it’s a whole lot to learn, but I’m absolutely loving it so far. I am ahead in both of my courses which was something I was hoping I would be able to do. Just have a little less stress surrounding school while we get closer to baby’s arrival. While I’ve been liking it, it is definitely a whole lot more work than I thought it may be, but it’s been a welcome challenge. Has there been days when I just couldn’t understand the material, regretted my decision & questioned everything. Totally natural right, & i’m sure it’ll happen again. But I’ll just continue to trek through & keep working, I have a bigger picture in mind.

Why choose a healthcare career when I’ve worked in tech / have has so much work flexibility over the years? STABILITY. I have no other words. With a baby on the way, & us wanting to continue to grow our family, I need something stable. I want to be able to contribute to my family, & not have everything fall onto my husband. He has been a saint & has put up with my career over the years, the unreliability of the industry & it’s time to make the change and in a way grow up. We always have things we work towards (travelling, etc), but we know kids are expensive & we want to be able to keep traveling with our children. We also know at some point we will have to move, our 2 bedroom house is just not going to cut it for as long as we would like & that’s okay, it just gives us more to work towards. Plus, I just don’t like not having a job, the past couple months has been a hard change for me, I like being able to contribute to things, & have not only an income stream but also a little more purpose.

I’m really looking forward to how this course is going to continue. Like I said I’ve found it super challenging at times & were only a few weeks in, but I’ve been enjoying the new challenge & enjoying being able to learn something completely new. I’m hoping all these steps i’m taking now are just going to benefit our family & at the end of the day, it’ll be a nice career change.