What I Wanted to Be

When I was  kid, there were a few careers in STEM that I wanted to explore. Unfortunately, the career paths seemed hard to achieve at the time and even a little unnatural for women. I ended up taking a non-STEM route in my education and my career path. My job is not directly STEM, although working in a call center and using some of the applications makes me feel like a mad scientist sometimes. With the advancements and accessibility to science learning programs today, I often wonder if things could have been different.

Some of the careers that I wanted as a child and throughout my teenage years were: astronaut, paleontologist, archaeologist, architect, forensic pathologist, submarine operator, fighter pilot, and web programmer. I am still quite fascinated with these fields of study, and if there was a job out there for me with my current life and the work skills I have accumulated over the years, I would be hard pressed to not jump ship and start a new career in a field that I love. Although dentistry is in the STEM field, my particular role is not – even though I find myself troubleshooting PC hardware and software on a daily basis. The knowledge I have gained over the years has all been obtained through hands-on experience and not through a college education. 

Right now, there is an amazing public service campaign to help businesses and organizations recognize job candidates, or what they call STARs (workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes). I really like the idea of this, as I truly believe that skills on paper are not always real-life skills that can be applied in the workplace. I have 10+ years of management experience, but no bachelors degree in business management, so I am passionate about recognizing those who have put in the years, put their feet to the pavement, and learned the ropes via actual application. If you are interested, I encourage you to check it out at Tear The Paper Ceiling.

Although more women are getting degrees than men each year, there are still some staggering facts that you might want to check out if you are interested in knowing statistics on women in the workplace. I found this all quite fascinating, as the company that I work for is primarily staffed by females, however, only 35% of our executive team is female. I am sure that this has increased over the years. You can find more information like this on certain companies here. In addition, The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics compiles data on the current population and shows statistics on the percentages of women in certain fields as well as by race and ethnicity. It is very interesting to see the still very low number of women being represented in STEM. For example, 96% of employed dental hygienists are female, but only 36% of dentists are female. When comparing the two, it makes you wonder what barriers there are for women in the education system that prevent females from going the full route to become a dentist. Are these women all choosing to be certified hygienists, or are there limitations?

I would love to know your thoughts on women in the workplace, women in STEM and the accessibility to education. Do you see the same gender ratio in your place of work? Have you ever considered a STEM career? What did you want to be when you were young?