Technical Careers

Company: Netflix Role: Senior Back-End Software Engineer Swati Sapar took a two-year break from her software engineering career to take care of her kids. She always planned to return to work, and felt ready when her youngest child started elementary school. Swati completed a returnship at Netflix, and now works there full-time as a Senior Back-End Software Engineer. She talks about her return-to-work experience at Netflix, how she slowly ramped…

Neema Bollampally had a varied career that took her from finance to non-profit management and corporate philanthropy. After taking a break to take care of her twins, Neema wanted to restart her career in tech. She talks about her returnship experience at LendingClub, how the skills she gained in multiple fields and her break have translated into her role as a technical program manager, and the importance of building a…

Lindo Payumo took a two-year break from his 20-year tech career to care for his mother-in-law. When he was ready to restart his career, Lindo completed a returnship at OSIsoft, where he now works full-time as a Product Support Engineer. He talks about his return to work experience, the importance of soft skills in product support, and how one of his customers got him featured in a company video. Returnship…

Divya Ambadipudi spent four and a half years as a Software Engineer in India and the US before taking a six-year break to care for her children. After deciding to return to work, she applied and was accepted into several Path Forward returnships and chose to return to work at Nutanix, where she was then hired full-time as a Full Stack Developer. She now works as a Senior Software Engineer…

Nancy Turner Jung worked in business development for Hewlett Packard for almost 20 years before taking a break to spend quality time with and help care for her ailing mother. After five years, she realized that she missed the mental stimulation of her career, and decided to return to work. After spotting a returnship at Quizlet relevant to her skills, she jumped on the opportunity. She talks about her returnship…

Deepthi Parthasarathy took a break from her decade-long career as a software engineer to spend time with her toddler-aged daughter. When her daughter started school, she decided to return to work, but sought to make a career shift from development to product management. After completing a returnship in product management at Walmart Labs, she was hired there full-time as a Product Manager for their retail supply-chain technology team – the…

Hagit Katzenelson worked in product management for a number of start-ups and tech companies before the demands of caring for family and a friend with cancer compelled her to take a career break. When she was ready to return, Hagit job-searched for five years before landing a returnship as Product Manager for Walmart Labs. She tells us about the importance of believing in yourself, her work on app development, and…

Deborah Chin worked in digital and print design for over a decade before taking a break to care for her daughter. What she hoped would be a break of only a year quickly turned into two as she juggled full-time care with efforts to transition into a UX Design career. After being accepted into a UX Design returnship at Walmart Labs, she was hired full-time as a Product Designer, where…

After almost a decade in university IT and tech sales, Abby Carrales took a two-year break to care for her three children. After deciding to return to work, she spent two years intensely interviewing and networking at tech companies all over the Bay Area before getting a returnship in security compliance at Cloudflare, where she was then hired full-time as a Security Compliance Specialist. She talks to us about her…