I recently found myself in a conference of empowered women looking to impact the tech space in Bahrain and beyond.
In case you are wondering, I was there mainly for research. I sat with a digital marketer from the UK; and a tech writer who is based in America. As they shuttled between work and personal talk, my mind drifted towards my own career path – its unpredictable course and surprising turns.
We hear of the so-called career ladder – that metaphor for progressive advance or job promotion. For most women, the “climb” is attended by the challenge of work-motherhood balance. I looked around me and wondered, “How are they making it work?”
There is no mistaking the sharp determination I saw in those women. The gender gap in technology is being bridged more dramatically today than ever before. Ambition was palpable. Achievements displayed before my eyes.
The height in the career ladder is conventionally defined in terms of higher pay levels, responsibility and scope of authority. I do know a bit about this. Earlier on in my career I could say that I had actually ‘been there, done it, bought the T-shirt!’
Days of being the first and last one to leave the office; hiring and firing; and of course, those countless mornings of reviewing my wardrobe rotation.
The invisible ladder surfaced in my second job. I did not necessarily seek out to figure the steps. No deliberate ambition there. I showed up with a genuine interest to excel and serve.
Four years on, when I left that job to try out life overseas, I was bidding goodbye to the management position I held. The company that started with just a handful of us had grown into more than 50 staff.
The subject of technology transported me back to the days of writing my Master’s thesis (I did Philosophy); back to my self-diagnosed (or was it self-imposed?) technophobia which inspired me to juxtapose frantic modern technology with the profound simplicity expounded in the quiet wisdom of the Tao Te Ching.
It was my apology for non-immersion to technology. I dwelt in that place of humble belief that things will unfold towards their natural best if we just stick to the basics. The memory of that soothing mindset offered such respite to my ruffled mind (and hair) at the conference. Have I become oblivious to the value of bold ambition?
After I left “regular” office work a few years back to be there for my children, it had not been about aiming heights as much as diving depths to reach and realise my creative passion; digging ground on which to build my affinity for service.
These days I get to enjoy the humbling experience of writing anonymously. Beyond having a platform on which to craft meaning and message, the cool perk of my current job is flexibility – the choice to either show up at work or work from home. Writing is one job that is so richly suited to remote arrangements.
The downside is when my children unwittingly trivialise what I do. They would charmingly tell me how lucky I am to surf the net all day.
While true to a certain extent, some creative outrage creep nonetheless. I had to introduce them to the not-all-fun-and-leisurely tasks of research and content writing; to the solitude I need for my work and the unappreciative perception from clueless outsiders looking in.
Do I wish to return to high demand jobs away from home?
No, I’d like to be here when my children return from school to serve them hugs and a warm meal, just as my mother did for me.
I have outgrown (literally!) my “outfits for success.”
I dwell simply within my writing spot here and there. Succeeding in significant bits. Ladder or not.