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 Ciara Clancy would have preferred not to completely walk away from her career in technology after the birth of her second child in 2005, but she couldn’t secure a flexible arrangement with her employer.

“It just wasn’t forthcoming. I would have loved to have stayed and worked a three-day week or something like that,” she says.

So, Ciara, who is originally from Navan, Co Meath, but has been living in Glasnevin in Dublin for many years, left her role as a Localization Project Manager and began a 16-year career break.

As well as focusing on raising her three children during that time, Ciara completed a Certificate of Education in Choral Conducting in the Community at DCU and became a part-time music teacher for young children.

“My advice for anyone considering doing Women ReBOOT is to go for it. It’s a great programme”

When her music teaching work fell foul of pandemic-related restrictions, Ciara started thinking about resurrecting her career in technology. “I had been looking, but it really gave me the impetus to start thinking about what I was going to do,” she says.

Her tech-related qualifications include a BA in Applied Languages and a Master’s in Corpus Linguistics by research.

Prior to joining Women ReBoot in May 2021, which she heard about through her husband who works in the IT industry, Ciara had experienced extreme frustration when applying for jobs in the industry.

“The first thing I found with Women ReBOOT, which was hugely important to me, was it gave you the opportunity to get in front of prospective employers for an interview, because I found that almost impossible. I sent out my CV to a lot of different companies before the programme, and I got two interviews in 18 months. I found it very frustrating because you know that you could do the job,” she says.

“They are a very experienced team and very good at what they do, and there’s great ongoing support from the group of women and from the programme.”

Ciara got her Women ReBOOT placement with ecommerce company eShopWorld, and she is still contracted with them as a PMO Analyst. “I’m quite lucky because eShopWorld have extended my contract, but if that were not the case, and I was going for interviews now, I’m in a much better position than I was. I feel much more confident and far more up to date because of the skills that I got from the programme and the placement,” she says. “The company are very much into training and career progression, so I’ve already had plenty of further training.”

She says she benefited from all of the modules on the programme. “My confidence grew through doing the technical modules like project management, introductions to the software development cycle and where it is now, GDPR and the soft skills courses,” she says.

“My advice for anyone considering doing Women ReBOOT is to go for it. It’s a great programme. They are a very experienced team and very good at what they do, and there’s great ongoing support from the group of women and from the programme.”

Read more Stories from our Alumina

We are delighted to announce the launch of our May 2022 Women ReBOOT programme. This is open to Women with IT qualifications and experience who are ready to return following a career break.