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,…
Kathryn Zaharek returned to work after a 3 year break by completing a returnship at Audible, where she now works full-time as a Senior Product Manager. She tells us about how she prepared for her return, how Audible supported her during her remote returnship experience, and explains why returners should always have an elevator pitch ready. Tell me a bit about your career break. What type of work did you…
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…
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…
Company: Meta Role: Data Scientist Like many Returners, Alex Karjeker’s career story-line has many twists and turns and includes employment in a wide array of careers. He worked for over a year as an investment banker, two years as a data scientist, and a year as a lobbyist. In 2017, Alex stepped away from the corporate world to run for public office, and when that was unsuccessful, he traveled to…
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 –…
Payal took a break from her decade-long and varied tech career to raise her son. When she was ready to return to work, Payal signed up for Path Forward’s newsletter, where she learned about the Wells Fargo Glide – Relaunch Program. After getting motivated by reading returner success stories, Payal jumped on the opportunity and was accepted. In this success story, she talks about her return to work experience, how…
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…
