Hi everyone!
I recently started looking for a job after being off the market for two years. I was very scared to even start looking. I thought that in those two years, so many things happened that I missed! While I tried to keep up with the industry by checking LinkedIn even during my leave, I still felt quite bad about the whole thing and, honestly, about myself.
Then I thought, “I gave birth to a human being and survived the first few months; I don’t think anything can be more challenging than this,” and opened Notion to shape up a plan for my new project: “preparing for getting a job.”
I started thinking of all the projects I worked on, that’s when it clicked – mat leave wasn’t just a pause in my career, it was the most intense product marketing bootcamp ever. Now I get why parents constantly make these work-life comparisons and endless posts on LinkedIn. I spent my whole career swimming confidently through tech waters, then suddenly got dropped into parenthood.
And let me tell you – despite what Instagram influencers suggest, none of this came naturally. It’s been the hardest job I’ve ever had, especially on days when sleep felt like a distant memory (so for the first 6 months at least). So here’s yet another post about how parenting can shape you professionally. By the way, as I am writing these lines my toddler is screaming “mama mama” because grandma wouldn’t let him do anything dangerous like drinking a soap. Talk about working under pressure.
Pre-Launch Planning: Preparing for Birth
Like any good GTM, there’s a deadline, but it’s flexible and uncertain. You need to ship, but the timeline might shift.
You’re running research sprints on birthing options, feeding methods, safe sleep, CPR, trying to validate sources, understand risks, and choose the best path forward. Just like any launch, there are cross-functional dependencies (midwives, nurses, doctors, a partner). You’re identifying blockers and gathering requirements with imperfect data.
You also need to procure tools and systems (hello understanding what kind of clothes are for what), and build a “go-to-market” plan for life post-birth with very little real-world testing.
Launch
After a product launch, you usually get a bonus, team celebration, and maybe even a few days off. After pushing out a baby? You get financially poorer (seriously, very thankful for the Employment Insurance in Canada but it barely covers anything), physically wrecked, and introduced to a level of sleep deprivation that would violate human rights conventions.
This is post-launch fire drill mode: you’re responding to new input constantly, solving feeding issues at 3 am, and trying to figure out when exactly you can sleep if the little human being is constantly feeding, trying to onboard a brand-new user who has zero documentation and a lot of demands. You’re juggling conflicting advice (doctors say this, midwives say that) and making decisions without knowing whether they’ll work.
Keeping the Product Alive
You’re doing continuous discovery: What does this cry mean? Is this sleep regression (what IS sleep regression)? What’s the right wake window?
You’re iterating, tracking everything (diapers, feeds, sleep), using multiple apps to gain insights, and adjusting strategies weekly if not daily. Then you THINK you figured out your product and everything changes (just like anything in the Tech World these days). And all of this while your body is recovering, your identity is shifting, and your sleep is essentially gone.
Cross-functional collaboration
My partner is amazing, and we’re doing this together, but when both team members are operating on 4 hours of broken sleep, alignment is hard. We’ve had to practice radical communication. Quick stand-ups, making decisions fast and under pressure.
Parallel projects
You’re also running logistics:
- Managing childcare waitlists that don’t work (does anyone know of childcare spots in Kitsilano, Mount Pleasant, or surrounding areas?)
- Navigating government systems (visa applications for visiting family = multi-step bureaucracy)
- Exploring drop-in programs
- Building new communications with tons of other parents at these programs
All this while your “available hours” decrease as the baby naps less. My time management skills are sharper than ever.
Cognitive load
Yes, there were moments I felt like my brain wasn’t working at full capacity. But I’ve come to realize, it’s the opposite. It’s operating at over capacity.
The ability to absorb, process, and act on new information quickly, with minimal context and zero prep time? That’s now my default setting. Writing this post, for example, I’m racing against an unpredictable nap window and it’s honestly the hardest deadline I’ve ever had.
So here I am, back in the job market. Am I “returning to work” or showing up with a new set of sharpened skills, battle-tested through the most intense, high-stakes project I’ve ever run? I wish I could use this project as an example during the interviews along with my work-related projects but noone wants to hear about parenting because it’s not relevant (but it is!).
I actually decided to write this post after a recent interview (for a role I’m very excited about) when they asked if I’m comfortable entering a new market and absorbing information quickly. That question made me realize how much my parenting experience has prepared me for exactly these challenges.
Generally, I find the job search to be a VERY hard project. Doing it after a break is even harder because of how you feel about yourself and because you have to remember details about projects you long ago forgot about. But I really hope that those who are hiring can understand: parental leave does not make you worse at your job. If anything, it makes you better. It’s a very hard project and you never know what comes next!
I wish I ended this post by saying “and look at me landing a job at a company name”. But nope, it’s just the beginning of the journey and I have no idea how well it goes.
So yeah, if you’re hiring or know someone who is, I would love to connect!
P.S. This isn’t to say that non-parents are worse at their jobs. It’s just to say: parental leave made me better at what I do (but also made me very exhausted lol).