I published my first blogpost in July 2019 titled “Why Being the Only Woman in the Room Rocks”. That post was the start of my PINKCAREERS journey, something I had been contemplating doing for a few years. The past six months working on my website have been tremendous learning ‘on the job’. Every day, I learn and improve my writing style, the website, as well as my understanding of how the online world works. Most importantly, I have gained more clarity on the vision and mission for Pinkcareers. This was always crystal clear in my mind, but not so evident during my many earlier attempts at penning it down.
Check out the Pinkcareers vision and mission HERE.
As the year ends, I want to share with you the many highs and lows that I went through during my first six months of blogging. I also want to thank each one of you who has supported me on my journey and read every post that I have published so far!
What I learned from my first six months working on Pinkcareers
1. An extremely rewarding experience
Hands down, working on Pinkcareers has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have had. I discovered that there is tremendous power in doing things on the web, as you can impact multiple fold more people online than you can in person. A former intern wrote to me about one of my early blog posts of the importance of self-awareness during job search:
“I have been overwhelmed by the job hunt and that post really helped me to pause and take some time to self reflect on what I actually want from a career by asking myself those questions.”
Another student who attended my ‘job search made easy’ presentation at the University of Houston wrote:
“Mrs. Bansal I just wanted to say thank you, because I feel a bit more powerful. I feel as if the information you gave us on Friday, has given me a boost over my peers. Now that I have been applying, I am much more confident and using the tools you gave me.”
And yet another young mom shared how scared she was that her desire to be perfect at her job will keep her from moving up the corporate ladder. Every time I receive such messages, I feel incredibly humble and grateful. These gestures of appreciation also push me to keep going even when life tries to take over (more on this later).
2. More thoughtful in work interactions
At Pinkcareers, I write about how my experiences at work are shaping my leadership style. And in turn, writing about my leadership style helps shape my experiences at work. I want to share with you the right things I do to accelerate my career and my learnings from experiences that have not been so great. I also want to share my vulnerabilities with you. So every tough situation with a teammate or my management forces me to introspect on what is the best way to handle it. I am also becoming more cognizant of the struggles of other women engineers around me, and how I can support them in their journey to career success.
3. A whole new world online
The last six months entailed a lot of DIY (do it yourself) as I educated myself in areas ranging from website design to SEO to email marketing. Before I started working on Pinkcareers, my use of the web was pretty narrow; I mainly accessed went online to ask the google guru a question, check my email, waste time on social media and read WSJ.
With Pinkcareers, I suddenly discovered that a completely different world exists where you don’t necessarily have to go to an office to ‘go to work’. Primarily, I discovered the world of online teaching, mentoring, and coaching. As part of an online coaching program myself (Anna Runyan’s Classy Career Girl), I am loving the feasibility and accessibility of online education for both the students and the teachers. I am also learning that there is a lot of power in accountability and cheering that comes from belonging to a community (join the Pinkcareers Facebook group).
4. Hard to stay consistent
Consistently blogging is hard. There are days when I come from work with two screaming toddlers in tow, to a house that has no dinner in the kitchen, and looks like a tornado recently hit it. My husband tries to help. But on those days, the overwhelm of a messy house, and loud kids consume him as well. When the situation calls for working as a team, we end up fighting over kid-related non-issues. No writing gets done on those days!
On other days, my husband plays with the kids while I sneak in a few minutes of writing. Many days (like now as I type this paragraph), the only way I can fit in some writing is by getting up at 5 am before anyone else in the house is up. What’s important is that every day, I want to continue working on my blog and get my voice out there. I know it is helping at least one person along her career journey.
And on days that seem incredibly hard, just like with all my toddlers’ tantrums, I say to myself, “this too shall pass”!
5. Online hatred is real
We all have seen hateful comments online. But mostly, we make nothing of it as they are posted on other people’s feed or in the comments section of others’ work of art. Last week, I got what I can only describe as a hate mail. As I reached the very end of the email, my hands were shaking. The email said my husband was cheating on me, as well as some other nasty stuff not worth describing here. My first reaction was it cannot be true. But could it be true? I was deeply disturbed but didn’t do anything in the moment. An hour later, I got another email from the same person apologizing (but not really) that he was my husband’s past colleague, and this was just a prank.
All I could think was how sad is this person’s life that he needs pranks like these for entertainment. I also realized that by increasing my presence online, I am making myself vulnerable to the hatred and sadism that I wish didn’t exist but unfortunately does. The only way to be ok with it is to believe that such behavior is a reflection of their issues and not mine.
6. Comfort zone is limiting
Let’s end this article on an optimistic note. I have big dreams for Pinkcareers. I want to provide resources and support to all women in STEM so that they can pursue career success without feeling inadequate, overwhelmed, or guilty. But these big dreams will not come true unless I expand my reach. Blogging has been a great start. Now, I need to up my game. 2020 will see the launch of the Emerging Engineers Academy (join the waitlist if you haven’t already HERE), a more engaging Facebook group, webinars on job search-related topics, and our very own Pinkcareers podcast!