Latest / The Comeback Career Podcast with Fexingo: Returning After a Gap, Stay-at-Home Re-Entry / How One Parent Rebuilt a Tech Career After a Decade Away
Transcript
- Lucas: Anita graduated with a computer science degree in 2005 and worked as a software engineer for four years. Then she had her first child, her mother got sick, and she stepped away. Eleven years later, she wanted back in. Luna: Eleven years. In tech, that is essentially a different era. When she left, the iPhone had just come out. Cloud computing was still a buzzword. Lucas: Exactly. And when she started looking at job descriptions in 2020, she saw things like Kubernetes, Docker, AWS Lambda, continuous integration pipelines — terms that simply did not exist when she was coding. She told me her first reaction was total panic. Luna: I can imagine. Most returners I've spoken to feel like they have to learn everything at once. And that paralysis is what stops them from even applying. Lucas: Right. But Anita did something smart. She did not try to catch up across the whole field. She picked one corner of tech that was growing fast, had a clear certification path, and was known for being welcoming to career changers. She chose Salesforce administration. Luna: Salesforce — the customer relationship management platform. It is huge, and companies need people to configure it, manage users, build reports. The skills are very specific. Lucas: Yes. And there is a nonprofit called Merit America that runs a Salesforce career pathway program specifically for people without a recent tech background. It is twelve weeks, part-time, and costs about four thousand dollars — but they use an income-share agreement, so you pay nothing upfront and only start paying once you land a job above a certain salary. Luna: So the financial risk was low. That is critical for someone who has been out of the workforce and does not have a lot of spare cash. Lucas: Exactly. Anita started the program in January 2021. She learned how to set up objects, fields, workflows, and security permissions. She also had to learn agile project management — daily stand-ups, sprint planning — which was new to her. But the program included a dedicated career coach who helped her reframe her gap. Luna: How do you reframe an eleven-year gap in a technical field? Lucas: The coach told her: do not apologize for the gap. Instead, lead with the skills you built during it. Anita had managed her household budget, coordinated medical appointments for her mother, volunteered at her kids' school running the library catalog system — all of which involved organization, prioritization, and a bit of system administration. She also took a free online course in SQL and built a small project analyzing her family's spending data. Luna: So she created a narrative that connected her past experience to the new role, rather than pretending the gap did not exist. Lucas: Exactly. She practiced saying: 'I stepped away to care for my family, and during that time I kept my analytical skills sharp through volunteering and personal projects. I chose Salesforce because I love building systems that make people's work easier.' That story tested really well in mock interviews. Luna: And the actual job hunt — how long did that take? Lucas: She finished the program in April 2021, earned her Salesforce Administrator credential — that's a certification from Salesforce itself — and started applying in May. She applied to about forty roles. She got six first-round interviews, three second rounds, and one offer by August. She started in September as a Salesforce administrator at a midsize healthcare company called WellBridge Health. Luna: That is about four months of active searching. That is actually faster than the average for someone without a gap. Lucas: It is. And her starting salary was seventy-two thousand dollars — exactly what she had been earning as a software engineer eleven years earlier. So she did not take a pay cut. She just changed the type of technical work. Luna: That is really encouraging. What does her day-to-day look like now? Lucas: She manages user accounts, builds custom reports and dashboards, and troubleshoots workflow issues. She also trains new hires on how to use the system. She told me the people skills she developed as a parent — patience, explaining things clearly, managing competing priorities — are just as valuable as the technical ones. Luna: It sounds like she found a role that actually uses her full skill set, not just the technical piece. Lucas: Yes. And a big part of that was choosing a field where the certification is recognized and the demand is high. Salesforce has over one hundred fifty thousand companies using its platform, and there are not enough certified administrators to fill the roles. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that jobs for computer systems analysts — which includes Salesforce admin — will grow nine percent through 2032. Luna: So the market is there. For someone listening who is in a similar position — out of tech for years, feeling overwhelmed — what is the one takeaway? Lucas: Pick one specific, in-demand credential that has a clear job outcome. Do not try to learn everything. Anita focused on Salesforce and it worked. There are similar pathways in cybersecurity, data analytics, and project management. The key is to choose something with a certification that employers actually look for. Luna: And use the gap as part of your story, not something to hide. Lucas: Exactly. Anita told me that in her final interview, the hiring manager said, 'I appreciate that you were honest about your time away. It shows you know what you want.' That honesty was a differentiator. Luna: I love that. So for anyone out there thinking about re-entering tech after a long break — there is a path. And it might start with a single certification. Lucas: And if we have helped you think through a career move or decision, we want to mention something. This show — The Comeback Career — is completely ad-free. We deliberately do not run commercials because we think career advice should be free of sponsor influence. Luna: Right. And listener support is what keeps it that way. If you value having an ad-free resource like this, you can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That link is in the show notes. Lucas: It is a small way to help us keep doing these episodes without any outside pressure. And we really appreciate it. Now, back to Anita — one more thing she said that stuck with me. Luna: What was that? Lucas: She said: 'I used to think I had lost my edge. But I realized that being a parent taught me how to negotiate, how to prioritize, and how to get things done with limited resources. Those are the same skills I use every day as an admin.' That reframe is everything.