Matt took a break from his software engineering career for five years to care for his newborn daughter. When she was ready to start preschool, he decided it was a great time to return to his career. Matt completed a returnship at Seeq, a software company that publishes advanced analytics applications for manufacturing companies, where he now works full-time as a senior software engineer. Matt tells us about all the…
Company: Grubhub Position: Data Engineer Pratyusha stepped away from her tech career for six years to take care of her two sons. When she was ready to return to work, Pratyusha found it difficult to get as much as a call back from recruiters, despite her experience and a Master’s degree in Computer Science. After attending a Path Forward webinar with Grubhub, she applied for a returnship at the company,…
Company: Red Ventures Position: Software Engineer Gunjan Bhatia took a six-year break from her software engineering career to support a family move to the US and to care for her son. Gunjan completed a software engineering returnship at Red Ventures, where she now works full-time. She talks about her remote returnship experience, how Red Ventures and her team supported her return to work during the uncertainty of the pandemic, and…
Minal Verma has been a Senior Recruiter at VMware for over 5 years, and her journey with the company has taken her from technical to full-cycle recruiting, as well as a move from Bangalore to Australia. She helped launch and handle recruitment for VMware’s first returnship program in 2019, as well as their second program in 2020, held remotely due to the pandemic. As VMware launches their next returnship program,…
Company: Trimble Position: Financial Analyst Karly took a break from her finance career to spend more time with her son. After six years, she was ready to return to the workforce, but found it difficult to get interviews with a career gap on her resume. That’s when she learned about Trimble and realized the company would be a great fit for her – so she applied and returned to work…
Company: Campbell Soup Company Position: IT Project and Portfolio Management Analyst Carrie Kirk took a 13-year break from her career as an athletics director and lacrosse coach, a job that involved long schedules and weekend travel, when she had her first child. When she was ready to return to work, Carrie decided to pivot into a corporate role, and realized that her skills made her a great fit for a…
One of the things that makes a returnship program a great way to restart your career is the support you get during your transition – from your company, from Path Forward and from your cohort – a group of fellow returners who are on the same journey that you are. We talked about the experience with six returners who completed returnships at VMware at the same time. This cohort –…
Company: Meta Position: Technical Program Manager “Taking a break to focus on raising my kids was a decision that was well worth it over the sacrifice of my quitting my professional job,” states Zandra O, a Technical Program Manager at Meta. However, after 3 years away from her professional career, Zandra experienced feeling “like I was not maximizing my potential to its fullest – I had a feeling I needed…
Company: Allstate Position: Software Engineer Aarthi Karnawat took a break from her software engineering career to care for her newborn daughter and her own health. After 5 years, she felt ready to return to work. While completing a Master’s degree, she returned to work at Allstate, where she now works as a software engineer. Aarthi talks about how Allstate’s work-life balance and supportive, learning-oriented culture helped her transition more easily…
Heidi McAllister took a break from her 20-year career in software development to spend more time with her young children. After seven years, she was ready to return to her career, and had just begun a returnship at Amazon when her team went virtual due to the pandemic. She completed her returnship remotely, and now works at Amazon full-time as a software development engineer. Heidi talks about her extensive preparation…
