Navigating Career Changes: My Return to the Tech World

Four years ago, after giving birth to my son, I found myself desiring to “relaunch” myself as a Virtual Assistant. I had spent the last nine months brooding and waiting for the little man to arrive. I had hardly worked on anything related to my remote business. Not that I didn’t try. My efforts were sincere in the beginning, but then the pandemic struck. Days and nights were spent glued to the news. Grey’s Anatomy and reality TV were my escapes. There were shows I watched during the pandemic, pregnant, that I wouldn’t touch now, even if you paid me. Could never be me. LOL!

Anyway, back to my story. I wanted to relaunch my business and become a Virtual Assistant again. During that time, while I was nursing my son, one of my clients in Zim messaged me randomly. He said something about people finally understanding the value of the work I do remotely. Seriously, FINALLY! Before COVID, selling the idea of working remotely to many small business owners was a hard mountain to climb. Even those who agreed often still wanted to see me face to face at least once a week or something.

I was excited about getting back to it this time because I knew the environment was now different. People were more open and accepting of this mode of working. And this time around, I had a plan to “up my game” a bit. With the experience I had gathered over the years working as a manager in corporate and running projects for clients as a VA, I felt ready to show up as a manager. I rebranded myself as an Online Business Manager (OBM) and landed several amazing clients and projects over the following months.

Now, one of my clients, after working together for about four months, offered me a full-time role. I thought to myself: What about all the BIG things I planned to do as an OBM? What about all my other clients? I didn’t want to leave them. We were doing great work. With this client, we were also doing amazing work together. What was I going to do? This would mean going into a full-time tech role. I still had a bit of PTSD from my time in full-time corporate as a tech manager in banking. I feared I would end up burnt out, frustrated, and seeking the nearest exit again. But something encouraged me.

Over the months prior to this offer, I had immersed myself in some of the most relatable learning and development content I had ever come across, which addressed many issues I experienced while working in corporate. Back in 2013, I had no idea how to navigate office politics, show up with confidence, build a personal brand, or network.

As I watched, I actually messaged one of the instructors who delivered some of the masterclasses and told her that had I known then what I know now, I don’t think I would have left my bank job when I did. I believe I would have made completely different career decisions at the time. Please don’t translate this to regret. I strongly believe in the statement, ‘No experience is wasted.’ My time as a tech manager in the bank, a VA, and an OBM led me to this moment.

So, I thought to myself, given the opportunity for a career do-over, knowing what I know now, would I take it? Would I take the opportunity to actually work on a team developing the professional development content that was now influencing this very important decision? By the way, the instructor I messaged was actually my client who offered me this full-time role!

This was an opportunity I could not let pass. As I accepted the offer, I felt scared, but I was also excited about the learning and growth opportunities that lay ahead. I felt excited about experiencing new things I had never done before. I was excited about connecting with new people from different parts of the world. I was also excited to apply what I was learning in all the content I worked on as part of my job to accelerate my own career.

And that’s how I found myself returning to a full-time role in tech and actively seeking to pursue it further. I am still a strong advocate for working remotely. But as much as I still mentor and coach aspiring virtual assistants, I feel that the next chapter of my career involves me falling back in love with tech to impact how people learn. It’s something I genuinely enjoy doing, and I’ve met and worked with some amazing individuals on this journey. The lessons have been vast, and my goal is to positively contribute and impact through the work I do with my colleagues.