Children have the gift of turning your life upside down. Before kids, you might have been a successful professional in a high-demand field. Once kids enter your life, you start to realize just how much time and effort your previous career required.

That time and effort currently goes into raising babies into responsible adults  (and you’d like to keep it that way). Some new mothers also gain a new perspective on life and feel like they need to do something more meaningful.

Whether it’s a need for more flexibility, a desire for meaning, or both, a third of women change careers after having children. However, most of them don’t want to do the four-year degree all over again (which is understandable). 

So, what options do you have and how do you find them? If this is why you’re here, keep reading to learn more. 

Decide on Your New Direction

First of all, let’s drop the idea that a career change requires starting from scratch or getting another degree. Especially when you already have work or entrepreneurial experience. Nowadays, employers and customers value demonstrated skills and experience over traditional credentials. 

Furthermore, if you’re open to the idea of trade skills (and you should be), you can start working and gaining experience in as little as one year. Most trade skill programs take between 6 and 12 months and include an apprenticeship period during which you do the work under supervision and get paid for it. 

Once you’re on your own feet, payment for skilled trades ranges from about $50,000 to over $76,000, with top earners making over $100,000. And no, you don’t need a fancy degree. 

Of course, this is not the only degreeless path, so let’s see how to find yours.

Identify Your Transferable Skills

Being a working professional and a mother equips you with a series of highly valued skills that you may not be aware of. 

Here are a few examples:

• Project management – Juggling competing priorities will teach you how to prioritize and assign tasks.
• Negotiation – Whether you’re trying to reason with stakeholders or toddlers.
• Budgeting – Developed to cover the increasing expenses of children.
• Crisis management – Nothing will teach you about managing a crisis like your toddler having a meltdown in the cereal aisle at the local supermarket.
• Time efficiency – Getting a newborn onto a sleep-and-feeding schedule will teach you everything you ever need to know about using time.
• Empathy – Mom brains have stronger neural circuits related to bonding and understanding others’ emotional states.

So, find a few minutes for yourself, and do an audit of your existing skills. 

Think about your tasks at previous job(s). Did you implement new software? That’s Change Management. Did you explain complex reports to non-finance teams? That’s Cross-Functional Communication.

Write each skill down and give it a mark from 5 to 10 to indicate how confident you are in mastering it. 

Next, define your non-negotiables for your future career. For instance, if you want a flexible program that lets you be with your kids whenever they need you, you’ll need a remote or, at least, hybrid position.

Note down your maximum weekly hours, minimum income requirements, and anything else that comes to mind.

Find Industries of Interest

Once you have your list of skills and non-negotiables, look for industries and jobs that fit both. The good news is that you can use an AI platform for this, like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude. 

We ran an experiment and asked ChatGPT which industries would suit a former Project Manager with 5 years of experience. The results are in the image below:

Of course, you shouldn’t rely entirely on AI for this, but it’s a good way to save yourself some time (which is a hot commodity when you’re a mom). Do your own research as well and consider talking with a career counselor. 

The Degree Alternative

Nowadays, employers seem to look for people who can actually do the job, even if they don’t have the fanciest credentials. This is due to the economy shifting demand toward skill-based jobs and applies in fields where practical skills are a must-have, like nursing or computer programming. 

Speaking of, nursing is a solid second career path that provides meaning and professional satisfaction. While it doesn’t have the most flexible schedule, it offers one of the highest degrees of job security in the market. It’s also easy to change workplaces and offers a wide range of options in terms of professional growth. 

Here are a few more examples of certifications and short educational programs that can have you working in less than a year:

• Google Career Certificates (3 to 6 months) – Focused on Digital Marketing and E-commerce, Data Analytics, or UX Design. It’s great for creatives, organized thinkers, or those with prior marketing experience seeking remote client work.
• Project Management (3 to 6 months) – Great for people with strong organizational and complex logistics skills.
• AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (2 to 4 months) – For professionals interested in tech infrastructure. Offers a high-paying entry point and strong remote potential.

In Summary

It’s quite easy to switch careers without going through a four-year degree. All you need to do is identify your skills and non-negotiables, and find an industry that looks interesting. Then find a certification or educational program that fits your needs, and get ready to start your new career!