Hi all Anne Rogers wrote @ 27/11/08 09:19: > >> I do reckon that by this time next year, when I'll have hopefully >> gotten the >> hang of the whole "baby" thing, I'll be so desperate to be doing more >> intellectually stimulating stuff (I'll be missing my physics) that >> I'll be >> making the time to do a little Debian work and a little research (most >> of my >> research is theory and can be done with only a computer - makes it >> easier than >> if I needed access to a lab), in between nappies and feeding and baby >> games and >> so forth. > > Maybe I'm not typical, but looking around my female friends I think I > probably am. Whilst pregnant with my first I felt the same way you do, I > fully intended to get back into things, probably part time, but it was > definitely my intention to do that. I took a part time job as a research > assistant when he was about 6 months old and found very rapidly that you > don't accomplish 50% of the work in 50% of the time, which is quite a > disatisfactory situation. I ended up handing in my notice and deciding > to try for another baby, but it wasn't really the next baby that changed > things, more oh, I've decided this isn't working, we might as well do > that now rather than wait.
I work in science and know a few fellow scientists who got pregnant in the last years. With most of them it went pretty much like Anne describes. They had rather ambitious goals but in the end found themselves using the spare time they had for other things like sleep, showers, and getting household things done. Most of them also complained about simply lacking the energy to follow the plan they'd initially resolved to follow. Another thing I've observed is that working part-time is often a difficult situation that is very much dependent on understanding colleagues. If there's one in the team who always leaving at 15:00 while all others keep on working this can easily provoke bad feelings. Never mind that this person does not only work half time but also earn half the money, never mind that (s)he might even start earlier than the others. never mind that s(he) is not going home to lie on the couch but pick up n kids from daycare and take care of them for the rest of the day. What *is* noticed is that s(he) leaves, while everybody else is still busily working. The danger that this results in bad feelings at some point -- intended or not! -- is quite high. And I've heard my part-time working friends complain a lot about this. Also because they always feel a bit guilty when leaving, even though they really shouldn't, and this makes even harmless remarks like "Have a nice evening" sting a little. I've also seen and heard of examples where working part-time worked beautifully but I've found that this is mostly in fields where part-time working mothers or fathers are a common trait and people are used to it. In fields where this is not so common (like CS/IT) there tend to be a lot more problems, simply because people are not used to the model. So I hope things will improve once the concept of a part-time working parents has become a bit more known in IT/CS jobs as well. (Considering the decreasing women ratio in CS I am being a bit optimistic here, but maybe this could also come from more fathers working part time because they want to take a bigger part in their kids upbringing. Who knows?) Best regards, Meike -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
