How Moms Can Use Their Transferable Skills to Break Into Tech

Mothers are hardworking women who wear many hats throughout their everyday lives. They juggle various responsibilities and are skilled in different ventures. These skills that they have could be used as a stepping stone to jumpstart a career in tech.

Tech job listings are usually associated with various technical skills but forget about all the soft skills that fuel those professions. If you’d like to join the tech workforce but feel limited from not having the required hard skills, this guide is for you. We’ll show you why your transferable skills of a mother and previous work experience can help you build a career in tech. 

What Are Transferable Skills?

Transferable skills are those competencies that you can use across multiple different jobs. These skills help you highlight your value and make your job hunt more versatile. Even though it doesn’t seem helpful initially, you’ll start noticing that employers put a lot of value into soft skills. 

For example, a company can hire an overqualified software developer. Still, if that worker does not communicate effectively and doesn’t know how to work on a team, they’re more likely going to be inefficient. 

 

How to Obtain Technical Skills

There are multiple career paths mothers can choose to obtain technical skills. Moms can earn a bachelor’s degree in IT, Computer Science, or an industry-specific field. This career path will take from two to four years and costs an average of $16,647 according to the NCES. 

You can also join a coding bootcamp which generally lasts around six months, and it’s more affordable. This could be a great option for career changers because it requires less money and time. However, some people still prefer bachelor’s degrees because they’re more prestigious and accepted throughout many industries. 

 

Why and How to Break Into Tech?

The tech industry is highly lucrative these days, and it’s expected to reach huge growth in the upcoming years. This sector is also known for prioritizing work-life balance even before the pandemic. Most tech jobs can be performed from home and have flexible working hours. The other benefit is that you can have career advancement opportunities. 

As a tech worker, you must remain a lifelong learner. Tech professions usually require you to constantly study as there are always new trends to explore, and you need to stay up-to-date with them. It’s definitely worth it for moms to break into tech as more and more industries integrate themselves with innovations.

 

Top Transferable Skills

Moms can use their transferable skills in almost every occupation. The idea is to highlight those more relevant to the particular role you’re applying for. However, in today’s job market, employers emphasize some competencies above others. Employers seek a variety of skills that need to be present in professionals.

Since we live in such fast times, employers seek resilient workers who can adapt to multiple situations. They need problem solvers who think creatively and employees who communicate efficiently. You’ll see some of the most in-demand transferable skills across all industries in the following list. 

• Communication
• Problem-solving skills
• Resilience
• Logical thinking
• Creativity

 

Transferable Skills in the Tech Industry

In the following table, we’ve listed some transferable skills that mothers can use in most tech occupations. You can use them across all of them, but we have mentioned some soft skills that are more prioritized for that particular career. 

Transferable Skills	Software Engineering	UX/UI Design	Digital Marketing	Data Science	Project Management
Communication	X	X	X	X	X
Creativity	X	X	X
Logical thinking	X	X	X	X	X
Finance	X	X		X	X
Leadership					X
Team Work					X

In Summary

Transferable skills are usually underestimated, but they’re more powerful than you think. They can help moms showcase their full potential and diversify their competencies. This way, mothers can apply for multiple different jobs by using their current experience and proficiencies. 

These can be easily added to resumes, and can also be used to complement career goals. It’s better to design your resume focused on a particular area and emphasize your assets with your transferable skills.